Shattered Mirror
by JarJarMOnki
Summary: No way Flippy is going to forget. He lost his sanity years ago, but only now does he realize that he's been suffering all alone. No one would understand his pain, sorrow, agony. Even if they tried it would be a failure. Maybe looking into his past would help, but even he knew that once you've lost something you can't look back. Contains FlippyxFlaky, gore, sexual themes. Humans!
1. A Man and His Monster

**Okay this is my first fan fiction, and I'm hoping for some constructive criticism. Please go easy though. In this story, the HTF's are human and they have human names. Oh and some names I've gotten from Hittheroad, I asked. I'm pretty sure I did. If I didn't I'm so sorry :'(**

**Flippy - Phillip**

**Mime - Mike**

**Pop - Paul **

**Cub - Corbin**

**Splendid - Spencer**

**Cuddles - Cody**

**Flaky - Fable**

**Petunia – Petunia (good enough)**

**Lammy – Lannie**

**Giggles – Ginger**

**Toothy – Thomas **

**Russell – Russell**

**Cro-Marmot – Craig Mathews**

**Lifty & Shifty – Luke & Shane**

**Lumpy – Liam**

**The Mole – Malcolm**

**Nutty – Nathan**

**Handy – Hayden**

**Sniffles – Stanley**

**Disco Bear – David Brian**

**These are the characters in this story and if I forgot to mention other names then I think you'll know who they are because their names are similar to the original. I might make some character OOC. This is rated T/M (because of cursing and gore) so I hope you enjoy….**

**Shattered Mirror**

The buzzing was loud and annoying to the man sitting directly next to the alarm. He doesn't mind getting up early, but that accursed buzzer makes the green-haired man's head throb. The green-head shut off the alarm and grudgingly got out of bed. He twisted his neck and looked up at his calendar.

"It's Monday huh, well I guess I got to get up," he stated. He slowly grabbed one of his darts sitting by his bedside. Then, without moving from his spot, he through the dart and hit the date 'June 1st'. He yawned and put both his feet on the ground, left foot first then right. He took his sweet time leisurely walking to the mirror.

He looked at himself and muttered only one thing, "Disgusting."

He put on his casual clothing which consisted of a plain black-t, a green camouflage jacket over it, some camouflage pants to match, and black lace up boots. To top it all off, he put on his green beret along with a pair of dog tags. His hair was messy, but he didn't care. His hair was _always_ messy. The last thing he put on was black fingerless gloves. He then left the room to head downstairs.

This man's name doesn't have importance to anyone, but maybe to those who have nothing left with their lives. It's not often for people to go talking to him out of nowhere, especially just to greet themselves. Even the nicest of people wouldn't talk to him. How can an 18 year old junior in high school not be able to communicate with anyone and be fine with it? Is he really okay?

"….you okay? Phillip are you okay?" a voice from the bottom of the stairs reached Phillip's ears. He looked down to see one of his only friends he has in this world.

"Yeah Mike, I'm fine, I just dozed off is all," he said trying to smile at his friend. Honestly, he hasn't truly smiled in years; he can only pull off a small grin.

"Well, you can't stand at the top of the stairs all day, so come on," Mike's quiet voice stated. It was barely audible, but Phillip knew that his friend was most often silent. So, it was this or Mike signaling to him what he was saying.

"Sure, but, it's only 4:00 am. We don't have to be in a rush," Phillip said, but Mike just smiled and called him over.

Phillip – unsure of what to think of his friend – walked down the stairs step by step, slowly. As he was doing so, he stared at the pictures hanging on the wall. The first one was a picture of him as a little boy with his – back then, new – horse. The next picture was of his butler Charles. He fired his butler after moving to Happy Tree Town with his cousin Lannie. Speaking of which, the next picture was of him, Lannie, and Mike standing side by side. The next picture was covered by a brown, dusty tarp. Phillip reached his hand over the tarp, but he didn't take it off. He noticed a spider crawl on his hand, but still didn't retreat. He actually let the spider crawl on his index finger and brought it up to his face.

"We are both misjudged creatures…" he told the little eight-legged arachnid.

He finally reached the bottom of the stairway and opened the window to the dark woods that his house was smack dab in the middle of. He then urged the spider to leave and so the spider did. Phillip sighed and turned his head to see Mike with a huge smile and a tray of food.

"You didn't have to -"

"- Oh, but I had to, because your cooking is so delectable I wanted to try; it's not as good as yours though," Mike interrupted.

Phillip said, "Thanks," and took the tray from him heading for the dining table. He set the table and they began eating their '_breakfast_'. It was more like dinner. On both their plates were mashed potatoes, salmon fillet, and corn on the side. Phillip actually enjoyed it quite a lot. Mike was drinking crystal water, while Phillip had rich dark coffee.

"So, Flippy how is it?" Mike asked cautiously. He doesn't want to set him off.

"Really good, you learned a lot from me Mime," Mike smiled and continued eating.

Mime and Flippy were nicknames they gave each other as little kids. Phillip called Mike, Mime because he's first of all, good at being a mime. Also he can pretend to be anybody as long as he's heard their voice. So, kind of like mimicking someone's voice except its scary how well he does it. Mike called Phillip, Flippy because of his _mental illness._ As a young boy Phillip went through something traumatic and as a result got PTSD. After that he developed a split personality. It's weird because both personalities feel the same way towards things – since they are the same person – but when Phillip's natural side doesn't want to show how his feelings, Flippy's _evil_ side takes over and does the talking for him. That's why he's called Flippy, but someone might have overheard Mike saying it and everyone started calling him Flippy as an insult. That's why Mike doesn't use it often.

Phillip then reached for his back pocket and fished for something. When he found it, he took out a container that looked like something you'd see at a hospital. On it had the words _'antidepressant'. _Mike stopped smiling and saw his friend at the other end of the table swallow the pills like candy. He couldn't help but keep staring at him. Mike is already used to it but, every time it happens it's as if all the air was sucked right out of him. It's a huge blow, knowing your best friend might have to live this way for the rest of his life.

Phillip noticed his gaze and looked up at him. He knew it must be hard to be friends with a guy like himself. Mike is friends with a lot of people actually, but they don't know anything about him and his _sick _friend. Phillip noticed that Mike was wearing a purple and white striped shirt. He also appeared to have his long purple hair in a messy bun behind his head leaving two chunks of hair on both sides of his face; complimenting the structure of his head.

"Mike are you okay?" he asked concerned about his purple-haired companion.

"Oh, never better!" he responded. He sounds a bit startled.

"Okay. I'm just making sure because you looked a bit ill."

"I'm perfectly fine, just fine."

"What are you doing here by the way; won't your mom be concerned?"

"Nah, she knew I was coming here and I thought I might help with chores."

"Have you done some already?"

"Yeah, your pet chickens clawed at me."

Phillip laughed, "Yeah, get used to it. And how about Moscow?"

"He hasn't dropped by yet."

"Oh, I see."

With that they finished their conversation and put their plates in the dishwasher. Phillip noticed that today the air felt light and bouncy. This made him loosen up a bit. '_Maybe I can actually relax today' _he thought to himself. Flippy left Mike in the kitchen to do dishes and he noticed that he was humming a tune to himself.

"La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Doo,do,do,bo,do,do,doo,do,do,bo,do,do…" and Mime kept repeating it over and over.

Phillip chuckled to himself. They were both a little weird.

Phillip decided to fix his bookshelf. He loved reading and he read at an advance level since the age of 5. He couldn't help himself; he loved to immerse himself into the great beyond. Most people see pages and black ink, but Phillip sees so much more. Books open him up into a world in which he could never experience in this one. One moment he is a spelunker who just got himself caught in a trap, and the next he is an astronaut who is bending space and time. Reading is beautiful to him, but he doesn't know what's better a book or music. Indeed both were spectacular. They both gave him a feeling of freedom.

When he was almost done putting the books in order, he decided to grab one book just to entertain him. His fingers touched the hard cover, but when he opened it, the pages were crisp and worn out. He really didn't give a damn. His eyes skimmed the page rapidly from the excitement building inside him, but then he stopped.

'_Thud'_ was the sound the book made when he dropped it; his hands were still in the air as if he was still holding it.

His head was throbbing erratically and his eyes dilated at a quicker speed then usual. He pulled at his hair and curled his body into a tight ball. Phillip was groaning and grinding his teeth. All of a sudden flashes of images blinded his vision.

'_Phillip wanna play?'_ _a girl with black hair said with a smile._

'_Don't run away like that!' this time a woman with grey hair and glasses appeared._

'_You are weak, pathetic, a **fool**.' it was a man in his 20's yelling at him._

'_You think anyone would love you?' another man who was holding a gun._

"STOP!" Phillip screamed. He doesn't know whether it was out loud or in his head but he definitely screamed. His vision was getting blurry and he wanted to throw up, badly. He headed for the bathroom and Mike was in front of him.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked worried, but Phillip couldn't hear anything but his own heart racing. All of a sudden, red crimson blood covered his lips and then more came spilling out onto Mike's black shoes.

Phillip knew he said something, but he couldn't distinguish what he was saying. He pushed Mime who might've fallen on the floor. He opened the door towards the restroom. He was already familiar with the taste in his mouth, but seeing blood pour out once again made him sick. He looked at himself in disgust. However, his eyes were fading from his bright green that everyone loves, into a pale, monstrous, demonic _yellow…_

**That was kind of short but, it will be longer next time I promise you that. And yes, I ended in a cliffhanger. I also feel like I had a lot of run-on sentences. Oops. Please review. **


	2. Shards Of Hope

**Ok, I felt bad for making the last chapter so short. Therefore, I am making a quick update on the 2nd chapter. But if it's terrible, give me a break because I woke up at 3:00 am to do this for you guys. Also I give credit to HitTheRoad for Flippy's name. So, here they are again.**

**Flippy - Phillip**

**Mime - Mike**

**Pop - Paul **

**Cub - Corbin**

**Splendid - Spencer**

**Cuddles - Cody**

**Flaky - Fable**

**Petunia – Petunia (good enough)**

**Lammy – Lannie**

**Giggles – Ginger**

**Toothy – Thomas **

**Russell – Russell**

**Cro-Marmot – Craig Mathews**

**Lifty & Shifty – Luke & Shane**

**Lumpy – Liam**

**The Mole – Malcolm**

**Nutty – Nathan**

**Handy – Hayden**

**Sniffles – Stanley**

**Disco Bear – David Brian**

**Also I want to thank RequiemsTale, DotDotDot13, and stripesthetiger for being the first people to review my story. It means a lot to me that you would take your time to write your opinion about something crappy like this. A little side note here:**

**RequiemsTale: Yes permanent death does occur here. I don't know how that will affect your reading, but I hope you still continue to like it.**

**Shattered Mirror **

"What are you doing here?" Phillip yelled at his reflection. If anyone saw him right now, they would think he's insane! His facial expression turned rabid, once again.

'_I had to stop by and say hello to my favorite person,' _he said morbidly_._ Then his face went blank.

"Why? I didn't do anything!" he yelled at himself, wait, himself? "Also, why the blood?"

'_Well I wanted to make a grand entrance, what I can't have class?'_

Phillip just stared at his reflection and gripped his hair once again, tightly. He silently cursed at himself, while he was having an inner battle within himself.

"Why don't you just stay out of my life?" Phillip said in almost a whisper.

'_Yeah I'll just leave so you can prance in the meadows, pick flowers, and sing Frere Jacque! We both know that won't happen anytime soon,' _he said almost mocking his own self.

"I hate you," was all that Phillip murmured.

'_You do realize you are saying you hate yourself. It's not good to put yourself down like that Flippy,' _

"Don't patronize me,"

'_Look, I only came by because you were thinking about it,'_

"Thinking about what?" he kept talking to himself, and while doing so his facial appearance changed every so often; his voice also became raspier when ever his other _version _was talking.

'_Don't act dumb! You know exactly what I'm talking about,'_

Phillip looked down at the ground. He knew exactly what his split personality was talking about. He was just too afraid to think about it. That day, was a day he thought he would forget, but it lingered in his mind much more often then he had hoped. While looking down, he noticed another spider crawling on his foot making circular motions. Flippy's stare was intently on that one small thing going in circles and circles. He started wondering where the spider would go next. Right now the arachnid can't leave; there is too much blood on the cold, tile floor to do that. The spider would surely drown from his blood; his own blood, a shade of red that he was all too familiar with.

"Of course I know what you're talking about. You're talking about the '_incident'" _

…

Mike started rubbing the back of his head and then his rear. He was apparently on the hardwood floor, indicating that Phillip did push him. Mike noticed a bump in the back of his head and just shrugged it off. He was more concerned about Flippy's well being instead of his own. He stood up – a bit wobbly at first – and he found the balance to start walking again.

He noticed a book – still open – at the front of the bookcase. It was laying page-down on the laminate flooring. Mike walked over to it and picked it up. On the first few pages it read:

"…the little girl started falling from the high tree. If no one caught her she would surely break every bone in her body."

"The incident," he murmured to himself. He decided Phillip had enough time in the bathroom and he took matters into his own hands.

He walked over to the restroom door and noted that the hinges were a bit rusty. Also the design on the door was very floral, making it hard to not smile at it. Unless you were Phillip who just had 6 beers and needed to throw up.

He used his right hand to gently knock on the door.

"Phillip you need to come out now. There is some important stuff I forgot to tell you. That's why I walked over, but then you started spilling blood out and…" he stared at his black tap shoes. 'They were my special shoes,' was all he was thinking. The black was now replaced with a brilliant red.

"Why should I come out?" he said sounding angered.

"Because Pop, Corbin, Liam and my mom are coming over,"

"So?"

"So? So! You need to come out here to greet them!"

"They know who I am, why should I greet them?"

"It's polite!" Mike said irritated.

"Who says I need to be polite?"

"You have to!"

"Is it a rule?"

"Yes, now come on out."

"May I see this rule book?"

"That's it!" Mike's face was turning red. He turned his fists into little tight balls and he was about to pounce on the door when,

"You know your yells are more like a whisper," Phillip said coming out of the restroom.

Mike unclenched his fists and sighed. He's just glad his friend is ok.

They both walked over to the living room and looked up at the clock. When the clock struck 6:00 am a loud chime was heard.

"So how do you feel?" Mime asked Flippy in his normal quiet voice.

"Fine, I feel a lot better now," he responded. 'That's a relief' is what Mike thought in his head.

The next thing they knew, a doorbell was heard.

"I'll get it," Phillip practically yawned.

When he opened the door he noticed a man taller than him – which means a lot since he is already tall – carrying two people under his armpits. Phillip could tell that the one on the left was Pop because of his smoke pipe he always carried and that weird bath robe looking thing. On the right was Corbin, and he could tell since he was a baby. The tall man in the middle had light blue hair with yellow highlights on both sides of his head and he had two antler earrings on both ears. Behind him stood a lady with darker purple hair than Mike's and Phillip noted she was carrying a white plastic bag. They were all just wearing casual clothing.

"Hiya!" the man in the middle said, his name was Jason Liam. Everyone calls him Liam or Lumpy though.

"Good morning Phillip! As you can see I am stuck in between Jason's arms but don't worry. I think he'll let us go, I hope," Pop explained.

Corbin just continued to drool and make baby noises.

"Hello Phillip, I came by to drop off your prescription medicine and just spend time with you guys!" the lady exclaimed. This was Mike's mom, Saiko Kikoeru, but everyone calls her Sarah.

"Well that's nice," Mike walked into the conversation, "We would love for you to come on in!"

Phillip was about to argue, but decided not to. 'What the heck, I could let them in,' he said in his head. He noticed Lumpy let his uncle Pop/Paul go and also his cousin Corbin. Everyone calls him Pop because he acts like a dad to everyone. To tell you the truth, it's a pretty weird nickname.

They all moved to the entertainment room and started chatting away. They talked about last school year and what they were going to do this summer. Both Pop and Lumpy were teachers at Happy Tree High school, while Sarah was Phillip's current psychiatrist. Yeah, his best friend's mother is his doctor, who knew. Although, when Sarah can't be at a session, Lumpy usually takes over. He actually has a degree, a real one, not like his teacher credentials. He is pretty bad at teaching, but seems to know what he's doing in psychiatry.

There was another knocking at the door. Everyone in the household was wondering who that could be. Flippy was the one to check it out, but just to be safe, he put his hand in his hand on the handle of his bowie knife in case it was another psycho. He took slow steps towards the door, so slow you could hear the creaking of the floorboards.

No one could stumble upon his house. He lives in a forest, which was highly secured from any trespassers coming in. There was a fence around the forest and then another one guarding his house. His house was actually built by the government - for certain reasons. Happy Tree Town is surrounded by nature – a forest to be exact – and it's divided into parts. The town itself is mostly the central forest. Not really a forest anymore, however. Then there is the North, South, West, and East forest. No one goes to the southern forest because that's where Phillip's house lies, but there also holds the tallest tree in all of Happy Tree in which the place was named for.

When he got closer to the door he took a deep breath in, and out again. He opened the door slightly, revealing long blond hair that flows even longer than the body itself. Phillip noted he was wearing no shoes and Buddhist clothing. That's when he knew he wasn't a threat. He opened the door all the way.

"Monkey?" Flippy inquired.

"In the flesh! Of course it's me, crazy!" he laughed. Monkey or Buddhist Monkey was all they knew to call him. Even he doesn't remember his real name. He is actually mostly bald, until you look at the back of his head.

"Did you come to see me?" Flippy asked another question.

"Actually I came for Mike, sorry Phillip," he chuckled.

Phillip nodded his head and called Mime. When he came over he came with a cheesy smile, almost looking like a doll. Phillip was just telling him everything Buddhist Monkey said. Mike smiled and nodded his head, but then something caught his attention and he stopped smiling. All of a sudden Mike grabbed Flippy's wrist and when he was going to ask what he was doing, he saw Mime pulled down his sleeves to reveal several large gashes. Some of those cuts were fresh and still bleeding.

"You said you stopped!" he yelled at him, although it wasn't much of a yell, but it was for Mike.

"I just said I didn't do it on a daily basis, I didn't stop completely," Phillip responded.

"Well this isn't healthy for you,"

"What does it matter to you?"

"It won't help you and I'm concerned!" he said. Both were ignorant of Monkey standing there.

"This is just like smoking and drinking, it relaxes me!"

"Yeah this is just like that, it's not healthy!"

"He's right," Buddhist Monkey said quietly. This stopped their conversation. He motioned for Mime to follow him.

…

They were finally at his temple. Mime was wondering why they had to come all the way here, but he didn't want to sound rude. When they got there he noticed a huge red dragon statue at the doorway. This grabbed his attention since he was fond of dragons ever since he was a little boy, but Buddhist shook him out of his daydream.

"We're here!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah," Mike said sarcastically.

"Anyway let's meditate!"

"Wait, right here? Right Now?"

"Yes the garden is the best place to do so."

"Well ok,"

They both sat down and sat in a meditating position. Mike wasn't uncomfortable since he was in the circus for a while. Then he relaxed every muscle and fell asleep.

…

"You know you weren't supposed to fall asleep, right?" Monkey was now in front of him and trying to get his attention.

Mike woke up with a start and fell backwards while still in the position. He sat back up and started blushing.

"It's okay Mike, it happens. Do you want some tea?" Monkey inquired.

Mike nodded his head yes and resumed meditating. When Buddhist Monkey came back he noticed, that he gave him Jasmine Tea. The aroma filled his nostrils and made his stomach feel warm inside. He took a sip and placed the tea back on the tray. Then, Monkey motioned for him to follow and so he did.

They ended up walking through a lot of hallways and they were mostly talking about Phillip.

"Yeah he keeps smoking outside and I don't think it's good for him," Mike stated.

"It's not," is all Buddhist said.

"Exactly, and when his lighter isn't working he makes me use my magic to light his cigarette!"

"Magic?"

"Yeah, haven't I told you?"

"I don't recall,"

"Well when I was little I was born with an advance human brain system that gave me the ability to do 'magic' I guess. I can hold fire and I can summon fire. I can do a lot of stuff. Phillip also has an advanced human brain, except he got really smart and strong."

"Well that's intriguing,"

"Yeah, we don't tell a lot of people because they might call us freaks."

"Can I take you somewhere?"

"Sure?"

"Come along," he said in joy.

They made it to a door at the end of the hallway. It was locked, but Monkey had the key, or so he thought.

"I left the key!"

"What? Where is it we could go get it? Also why would you leave the key?" Mike asked questionably.

"Don't worry I got it!"

Mike was about to ask when he noticed that he was moving his hair without touching it. Mime stared at him wide-eyed.

"People call me Buddhist Monkey for a reason Mime. I use my hair as if it was a monkey tail and that was how the monks let me grow my hair. You're not the only two born with gifted brains. More and more children are born like that."

Mime didn't disagree with him and just let him continue his work. Then he heard the lock unclick and the door was open revealing a, mirror. Mike was expecting something grand, but it was just a mirror, a broken one at that.

"Why is this here?" Mike questioned Monkey.

"It's a mirror that represents the start of a new era for Flippy," he answered.

"New era? What do you mean?"

"Remember, he broke this mirror after I showed it to him."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot."

"I have all the glass pieces on that table,"

Mike looked over to see a table full of glass shards. A lot of sharp, yet fragile looking glass.

"As long as there is still a mirror, there is hope." said Monkey.

"Why?"

"Because this mirror represents who Phillip truly is," he responded

"Oh, yeah. Wasn't this the mirror that showed if you were good or bad?"

"Yes it was, and it still is,"

"The Shattered Mirror…"

"What a catchy name for it, but I just call it the mirror that represents his whole being."

Mike just nodded his head in agreement, "but how can we fix it?"

"Everything can be fixed, so long as you believe it can be. However, to do so you must look forward and back at the same time. You must not push the person for they will get irritated, but you cannot leave him be or he'll forget. For Phillip, right now there is only one thing we can do…" Buddhist grabbed a piece of glass and placed it on the top left corner and took a deep breath.

Mike just stared at him pondering, anticipating what he was going to say. He wanted to know what he needed to say.

"…we must look at the past…"

**Oh cliffhanger! Please don't hate me! I had to leave you guys with something. This was still shorter then I had anticipated but oh well. I hoped you guys liked it and yes the next chapters are about Phillip's past so YAY! Be excited. Please review!**


	3. Who was that hedgehog?

**Here's another chapter! This one finally has Fable (Flaky) in it and you're probably thinking, 'took you a while'. Yeah, I was actually planning on having her in the 4th chapter, but I thought you guys might ditch this story if I waited too long :'{**

**Also, the next few chapters – or many actually – are going to be based around Phillip's past, so yeah. Also, I forgot a disclaimer in the last chapters, I feel terrible.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo Media does. Also, any other major franchise I mention here I do not own. All the music I mention belongs to their respective owners.**

**Shattered Mirror**

"Isn't he beautiful?" an exasperated woman's voice squeaked.

"Of course. What's hard to believe is that he's ours," a man's British voice rang.

"Oh my god, is it true? We have a child William?"

"I can't believe it either Hannah, but this is it, it's our moment," the man now known as William told his wife.

"What shall we name him?" Hannah asked.

"Well, what do you want to call him?"

"I don't know. Maybe James after your father or Francis after mine."

"This is going to be a hard decision Hannah."

"Do you want to ask the family?"

"I wouldn't mind; I'll do so right now,"

"Okay…"

William Phren left the room to contact the others. Hannah's eyes lingered on the door he exited, but then her eyes looked at her gorgeous new baby boy. He was asleep, but the image of those rich emerald green eyes still fogged her mind. Her and Will's first child was – there are no words to describe the feeling. She was a mother; William was a father and they both are going through a whirlwind of emotions. What were they going to name him?

"I'm here sister!" a deep, manly, scratchy voice exclaimed.

"Hello, brother, the child is sleeping," Hannah told her brother in a hushed tone.

"Sorry…"

He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled awkwardly. That's when he noticed the bundle of joy cradled in her arms. He was speechless and his tongue went numb; he felt that as if he took a step, he would crumble. Therefore, he just smiled. Paul was the name of this man, he has yet to have a wife or a child yet, so he doesn't know exactly how it works.

"Sister! How did the pregnancy go?" another woman's voice with a French accent yelled.

"Guys, I am perfectly fine,"

That's when the rest came in, all of them. William's family and Hannah's; there were quite a lot. The one thing that stood out to everybody, however, was that precious – not to mention fragile – little jewel. His soft, tender skin was covered up in a hand-made blanket. His eyes slowly opened up to the world around him. It was a moment none of them could ever forget, especially to the new-found parents.

"Oh my," the French lady said in all the silence, "He's marvelous. I mean, just look at those eyes. They are the epitome of beauty. I never knew eyes could be so green. It is like a trap, forcing you in. I better stay away from him, no?"

"Gracie, I agree, but if only we could find a name. Only then will I find peace within myself," Hannah sighed. Her husband rested his hand upon her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.

"We can definitely find a name. I bet you every penny in all of Great Britain that the name we give him will surely make even royalty jealous. The queen will come knocking through our door herself just to take a glance at our newborn!"

"I'm not so sure about that Will."

"Phillip…" someone from outside the door had said. He spoke with a Chinese accent and his voice was very weak.

The whole family turned their heads to see who the speaker was. They saw a boy at approximately the age of 14. He was wearing patient's clothing and he appeared to be in a wheelchair. He was bald in the front, but in the back he had a blond ponytail that touched his shoulder. The person holding the handles of his wheelchair tripped and fell on his face when the little boy manually moved the chair.

He was coming towards the family and Hannah was a bit unsure of what to think. William stepped in front of his wife and used his arms to shield her.

"You better stay away if you know what's good for you young man," he said assertively.

The 14 year old just looked at him like a dog confused – his head cocked to the right and pouting. He did start whimpering though when William scowled at the smaller boy.

"I'm so sorry…" the nursing assistant who was originally on the floor was now up. "He's an exchange student from China who doesn't know the customs here. He doesn't know that much English and he was just curious is all. Carry on!"

He was about to leave with the child, but then stopped halfway.

"Wait, Phillip is not that bad of a name. It kind of has a ring to it 'ya know!" Paul said.

"Oh I see it now! Phillip Phren! It sounds lovely!" Paul's younger sister Gracie exclaimed.

"Wow, you're actually right!" both William and Hannah agreed.

Everyone in the room started nodding their heads and the little teenager smiled; nodding his head up and down in one fast motion.

"Lovely, do you little boy have a name I would like to thank you." Hannah asked.

"He doesn't have a name. Nobody can translate what he's saying. He speaks Cantonese, but in his own weird way. Every time we ask for a name he just says 'monkey'. We just call him by pointing," the N.A said.

"Oh, what a shame, does he know what Phillip means. A name like that has to have a grand meaning."

"Horrrssiiiieeeee" he said making a heart shape with his bare hands.

"Horse?"

"Yep!"

"Yeah. He's saying 'Phillip' means horse lover…" the nurse assistant said putting his hand on his forehead. He was so embarrassed.

"Oh," Hannah said a little disappointed, "Well others don't need to know that…" she chuckled.

Everyone nodded their heads simultaneously, agreeing to their little secret.

William let his guard down and relaxed his arms. He turned his head to face his wife to give her a small smile. He turned it again to face the little 'monkey' boy.

"When you heal young man, don't be afraid to drop by our mansion. It's just around the corner; you can't miss it. We would love to thank you properly for the name and maybe help you with your English."

The blond smiled a huge grin – if he went any further the corners of his mouth would touch the corners of his eyes. He started clapping his hands together and laughing like a little kid would when he got his Christmas present.

A grey-haired lady with spectacles and a maid outfit – she worked at the Phren's manor – walked into the conversation, but kept her gaze on the little baby.

Her words were, "It would be an honor to work for this child…" she paused – maybe for dramatic effect.

"…Phillip Phren"

…

"PHILLIP! YOU COME BACK HERE!" the maid yelled looking for the small boy.

It has been almost 6 years since the day Phillip was born. He was perfectly healthy. The only problem was his reflexes. The doctors had told the parents that Phillip was missing two of his reflexes: flight, and freeze. They don't know why he was born this way – maybe because of Hannah's side of the family which consisted of a lot of mental disorders – but everything else was just fine. He only had the reflex to fight. The family tries so hard not to frighten him, the last time someone did had their arm broken.

Phillip Phren was extremely smart – at the age of 5, reading medical books that were meant for high school students – and well built. He was strong and very curious. That's what made him run off so much.

There he was, his brown hair tucked into a neat ponytail, but still waving in the wind. He wore tan khakis and his socks reached to maybe a little lower than his knees. His black dress shoes were tracking dirt, but he didn't care. All that mattered to him was getting away from that 'old hag' as he calls her. Phillip just kept running.

His green and brown sweater vest was a bit ripped from being chased by dogs, cats, and pigs. He wanted to see what would happen if he fed them all hot jalapeños from the garden. Sure, he got a bit hurt, but their faces were priceless. They kept coughing and trying to spit it out, but most of it already went down. However, that was only one of the things he did today.

He was still running, and at a terribly fast rate too. He went around a corner and made a sharp left.

Phillip was heading for the market.

He jumped over barrels like an Olympian would go over hurdles. He swerved his way around people and even cars. He didn't even wait for the signals to say walk.

When he finally reached the market he smelt all the wonderful aromas. There were street vendors selling hot dogs, and barbeque steak and pork coming fresh from the grill. The steam was so thick, it almost blocked out the sun – but thank goodness not. The one smell that caught his nose's attention was coming from the bakery. It was the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies – his favorite kind of cookie.

On his way to Destiny's booth he ran past the vendor and took the hot dog, but not without leaving some cash. He also speeded right past the barbeque, grabbing pork on a stick and left some change at the cashier on the way. He finally used all his money he had left to buy 4lbs of chocolate chip cookies. Even though he likes to run away, he always says 'stealing is below me' so I guess you could say he was a bad good kid.

The streets were filled to a brim in this area, but he still managed to weave through everybody and not spill anything he had on him. He finally saw Destiny at the end carrying a bunch of apples and placing them in the barrel. She wore a long green

Fluorescent shirt and a white pleaded skirt that showed off her legs. She had straight brown hair, but it was pointy at the ends.

When Phillip found her, he literally grabbed a pole and swung on it landing right behind Destiny.

She jumped a bit startled but calmed down when she laid her eyes on Phillip's recognizably green ones.

"What are you doing here?"

"Shhh, I can't be spotted," he said bringing his index finger to his mouth.

Destiny looked at him questionably, but turned around to see a lady with grey hair tucked into a bun and broken spectacles lying against the bridge of her nose. She knew Phillip was trying to hide from her, and she knew no one liked the 'old hag'. She let him hide behind her legs.

The maid walked up to the booth.

"That little rascal, I swear I'd lick him with his own belt. I know I can't harm him, but he sure is the one an' only thing causing my migraines!" she yelled over the counter where Destiny stood. The old hag picked up a couple of fruits from the barrels and put them in her basket.

"Well ma'am maybe if you stoppedactinglikeawitch…" the grocer said in a hurried and quiet voice.

"What was that dear?"

"Oh I said maybe if you buy a couple of pears I could help you!"

"Are you making me pay for information?"

"I could give you 20% off."

"That is promising, but I won't do it."

"Just a few."

"No."

"Ma'am if you buy 15 pineapples, I'll get you 12 packs of flour for free."

"What will I do with 15 pineapples?"

They kept throwing discounts back and forth at each other and they weren't going to end their debate anytime soon. Meanwhile behind Destiny, Phillip tried his best to hold back his laugh. While silently giggling, Destiny threw him a smile from the side. She winked and then tossed him a fresh apple.

He grabbed it with ease and mouthed the words 'thank you' and with that he crawled away. He left through the back and when he reached the other side he stood up to began munching on his apple.

When he bit into it, the texture on the outside was smooth but crunchy. The inside was soft, but not too much; just how he likes it. The juice started dripping down his chin and hit the ground drop by drop – slowly. He saw ants crawling into the liquid not realizing they would drown from it, but it was too late.

He grabbed his knapsack he had on him and took out his cookies. He had always had a strange addiction to cookies. They were his guilty pleasure, but he didn't feel so guilty. Who wouldn't like cookies?

They were all wrapped in a safe little bag, closed tightly with a big red ribbon. He grabbed the loose end with his pointer finger and thumb; slowly he pulled the ribbon until it was no longer in the form of a bow. Then he devoured his cookies like they were the last cookies on earth.

He left crumbs all over his face, but he wiped it away with his sleeve. That was just one of the packs of cookies.

He decided to find something else to do. He really had nothing he wanted to do today at the moment. Later, he knew he had to see his fiancée. Yep, he was married, at a young age. It was an arranged marriage. Something about, his grandfather's company and 'we need an heir to the throne' and since Phillip was the descendant he had to marry. He does not want to marry, he believes in something like 'true love'.

Everyone tried to get his hands on him and they wanted to have his kids. They don't know anything about him though. They know he is a Lord, is rich, and looks cute. That's about it. Finally, everyone decided he would marry Helen Alexandra the 3rd. Phillip only thinks of her as a friend, not a lover – to be honest she's quite annoying.

Phillip walked over to a hill beyond the market. No one would find him here; it's his own personal sanctuary. There he found refuge under the shade of a tree and continued to munch on his apple.

'Bonk' an acorn hit the top of his head. He shrugged it off and continued eating.

'Bonk' it was probably a squirrel.

'Bonk' he got tired and looked up to see no squirrel. It was maybe the wind.

'Bonk'

'Bonk'

'Bonk' he was getting tired of this. "Hey! Is anyone up there?" he said a little irritated.

No answer.

"Hello?"

No answer.

"Come on out please."

No answer.

"I won't hurt you if you just stop throwing acorns."

Still, no answer.

He dropped his apple and stood up from his spot. Phillip covered his eyes looking up so the sun wasn't too bright. He squinted his eyes and could make out a figure in the tree. _'Yep, definitely human,'_ he thought in his head.

He took his bag and swung it around his shoulder. He took the pork he had and took a big bite of it, but didn't let go. Once he knew his teeth were securely locked onto the meat, he wrapped his arms around the tree as best as he could and began his ascent.

His shoes were not that good for climbing, but it had to do. It was a slow snail-like climb. He literally clawed his way up there. Phillip was pretty sure he had gained some new splinters in between his nails on the way up.

As he got closer he realized that the body looked feminine. _'A girl?'_ he thought to himself.

He also noticed that she was shivering, maybe she was cold. He kept climbing and when he finally made it to the top; he grabbed a branch and tried to seat himself next to the girl without hurting himself. He heard her shriek – and it was really loud – and he almost fell over and he would have to start all over again.

"Hi there miss are you ok?"

She didn't look at him. Her bangs were in her face and, actually her hair was all over the place. Phillip noticed she had beautiful red colored hair – and it looked natural. Her hair was covered in snow? He realized later that it was little white dandruff. However, the way the dandruff fell off her scalp looked like snow drifting away; carried by the wind.

Her skin was fair and a little bit pale, but it made the red stand out more. She wore a red hand-knit sweater that was much longer than her arms and it reached all the way to the base of her neck. She also wore brown shorts that went up to her knees. Another thing to add was that she was wearing no shoes.

She kept scooting away from him but there wasn't that many places to go to right now.

"You're shivering, do you want a coat?" Phillip inquired.

"N-no."

"Are you sure?"

This made her whimper and start scooting away from him more.

He contemplated on what to do next, and took out his barbeque.

"Here have this. I took out the part I bit."

She shook her head frantically saying no. She looked down from the tree and saw big, green, open grass. She started shaking again and hugged the tree while still cupping the little thing in her hand.

Phillip looked down as well and thought maybe she wanted to get down.

"Look, I won't hurt you. I can help. I'll carry you down. Just give me your hand," he offered.

She looked at him for the first time. Green eyes met red ones. He has never seen eyes as beautiful as hers and vice versa.

He offered his right hand and she looked at it as if it was old garbage from last week. She then looked at her hands which were cupped around each other and opened them. Inside was a little brown hedgehog.

"A hedgehog?" Phillip exclaimed, "What's it doing here?"

"I f-f-found hi-im in t-the tree and I-I want-ed to help him," she said quietly.

"Wow, incredible and you climbed all the way up here?"

She nodded her head.

"But, you can't get back down?"

She nodded again.

"That's crazy!"

She turned her head away; her face flushed.

"Well I'll help you Ms. Stutter"

"W-what d-did you call me?"

"You stutter a lot, so until I know your name, you'll be called Ms. Stutter!"

"Tha-that's mean," her voice was a bit louder now.

"Okay, then I'll call you hedgehog girl."

"N-no that's w-worse!"

"How about Flaky!"

"Tha – actually people already call me that."

"See! I found a name."

"M-y n-name i-is Fable."

"Mine's Phillip. Do you want to get down now?"

Fable nodded her head.

Phillip grabbed the hedgehog and carefully put him in his knapsack. All of a sudden, he stood up and grabbed Fable bridal style and jumped off the tree. All the way down, she screamed. He couldn't help but laugh at how loudly she was screaming. When they landed, she kissed the ground and started saying thanks to god. Phillip laughed again.

"It wasn't that bad."

"Yes it was!"

Then someone called out to Flaky and she waved Phillip goodbye. He sure had fun today.

…

When he got home he got a scolding from the old hag and just ignored her. He went into his bedroom and opened his knapsack to reveal a hedgehog. She must have forgotten to take him out. He still remembered her smile when they landed on the ground.

His thoughts were interrupted when the old hag came knocking on his door.

"Phillip come on out here."

He was about to argue, but listened instead. He went out into the foyer and saw a boy about his age – maybe a year younger.

"Phillip you are to become friends with this young lad and show him around the mansion. His parents are having a divorce, but for now he needs someone to care for him."

"Who is he?" Phillip asked intrigued. He's always open to making new friends.

"Phillip, I would like you to meet Mike…"

**I feel like that was long. Oh my gosh, it was long. Anyway, I hoped you liked it and with Phillip and all the girls wanting to marry him – those represent Mary-Sues. I hate them with all my might and I want to throw them into a furnace. Don't you worry because I won't make Phillip married to that Helen for long *insert evil laugh***

**Also I added some extra characters just to give the story more death. The story won't be based around them. Review and later!**


	4. It was all Bliss

**I would just like to say thank you to those who have reviewed, faved, and followed my story. It means a lot, especially because this is my first fan-fic. Also – if you didn't know – Phillip is British and French. Let's get straight to the point; here's chapter 4.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo Media does. Also, any other major franchises I mention here I do not own. All the music I mention belongs to their respective owners.**

**Shattered Mirror**

"So Mike, it's very nice to meet you," Phillip said raising his right hand in hopes for a handshake, but instead got a smile and a wave back.

"Phillip, you are to care for him until his mother can return from Happy Tree Town. She still needs to settle things with her ex-husband," the maid had said to him.

"So his mom dropped him off in the UK, but traveled all the way to the US to finish a dispute?"

"Sounds about right. The mother is a family friend."

"Okay, but is he alright. He looks a bit pale to me."

"That's just his skin color, Mr. Phren."

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

With that the 'old hag' left to do other chores.

Phillip looked at his new companion and noticed he had purple ear-length hair and two strands of them shaped his face. He also wore a purple and white striped shirt, along with purple pants to match. His eyes were also purple – he must really love purple. In his hands he held a yellow balloon animal in the shape of a llama.

"That's a pretty cool balloon animal. I've never seen one like it," Phillip said poking the inanimate object.

Mike nodded his head and smiled.

"Did you get it from the street vendors?"

He shook his head. He brought out another balloon, but it was deflated. Mike then pointed to himself.

"Oh, you made it. That's even cooler! Can you make me one?"

His hands went straight to work. The process was so fast, Phillip couldn't keep up. Then, Mike presented a red dragon-shaped balloon.

"Amazing!" He was about to grab the dragon, but Mike took a pin and popped it. After doing so, the dragon burst into flames, but Mike wasn't getting burned.

"How are you doing that?"

Mike kept twirling the fire around his hands and fingers; finally he just let the fire stay in the palm of his hands. He looked up and quickly extinguished the fire by closing his palm. He looked at the bottom of his shoes and was blushing slightly.

"Hey it's okay. What's wrong? Did I do something? I'm so sorry if I did."

He shook his head. He pointed to himself and did sign language for 'weird'.

"No you're not weird. I think that's amazing! I wish I was as talented as you! You're like a magician!"

Mike looked up and gave him a face that said 'really?'

Phillip nodded his head and motioned Mike to follow him.

…

They were in the backyard and talking about themselves – more like one talking and the other one signaling.

"So you're Japanese? How about your Father's side?"

Mike stretched his arms wide and made a 'C' with his hands.

"Canadian?"

He pointed his index finger up.

"One more?"

Mike nodded and stretched his arms even farther. He made an 'm' with his hands.

"Monaco?'

He shook his head.

"Ummm?"

Mike looked up to the sky and had an idea. He pretended to cradle something.

"A baby?!"

Mike took Phillip's head and shook it left to right. He did the same thing but then made an 'M' with his hands.

"M-m-mother!"

He nodded and made a motion for him to keep going. Mike stretched his arms again.

"Mother-mother-motherland?"

Mike nodded again.

"Russia?"

Mike then gave him a thumbs up.

"Yay! I got it."

He smiled again and then showed him the fire trick again. The flame came out of nowhere, but Mike still wasn't getting hurt.

Phillip tried to touch it, but burnt himself, "Yep, its real."

Mike laughed without an actual laugh coming out.

"Were you born this way?"

Mike nodded his head again and he looked a bit saddened.

"Did people make fun of you?"

He nodded again.

"I think you're amazing and that counts for something."

Mike had his happy face again.

They continued playing with each other. They shared secrets and played ball. Phillip even shared his cookies with him – something he doesn't do often. They were really hitting it off.

The duo decided to cause some trouble.

Phillip showed Mike the hedgehog he had in his bag and told him his plan. Mike liked it, but then added to the idea. They both started giggling and fantasized about how people would react to their prank.

Mike sneaked his way into the kitchen and 'borrowed' the whip cream.

Phillip then waited for the hedgehog to be ready. When it was, he snuck into the kitchen with Mike and when the chef wasn't looking switched the bell pepper with the spiky little animal.

They hid behind the counter and waited for the chef to come back.

The chef had his knife in his right hand and headed for the chopping board. He noticed the bell pepper wasn't there, but was replaced by an animal full of 'rabies' – it was just whip cream the troublemakers put on his mouth. The chef shrieked like a little school girl.

The boys whistled for the animal to come back to them. The hedgehog listened and scurried over with his little feet towards them.

The chef tried to chop him, but failed every time. He followed the little critter all the way to the boys. As soon as they knew they were spotted they ran out into the backyard.

"Are you tryin' to ruin me pasta. If you know whats'a good for you will stay out of me kitchen lil' boys," the large chef pronounced.

…

They were rolling on the trimmed grass and still laughing.

"And then," Phillip said – his eyes in tears.

Mike laughed and nodded his head.

"And with the…"

They both went into another burst of laughter.

"That was –"

"Priceless…" Mike interrupted.

"You're talking!"

"Of course!"

"I was going to think you were mute!"

"Nonsense! I just believe silence has the loudest voice. I only talk when necessary or if the person I'm talking to is my best friend."

"Best friend?"

"Yes, my best friend. I had a lot of fun today."

"Yeah, you're my best friend too." Phillip stood up, "Promise to always be there for each other," he said bringing up his right hand.

"Always, until the bitter end," Mike answered and shook Phillip's hand.

They smiled at each other and continued to talk in the yard.

…

"Boys…" a woman from the inside said.

The two looked up to see Hannah and William standing in the doorway.

"Mother! Father!" Phillip exclaimed. He ran towards them and gave them a big hug.

"We see you've been acquainted with Mike," William looked at his son.

"More than acquainted."

"Well that's good. Your mother and I heard about what happened in the kitchen."

Both Phillip and Mike looked at the ground and tried explaining what happened.

"That's why I love having a son!"

Phillip was brought into a hug. He was being squished by both his parents.

"Come here Mike. If you're a friend of Phillip, you are also a part of the family."

Mike made a huge smile and joined in the love fest; not realizing they were going to suffocate him with their hugs.

"Get used to it," Phillip squeaked.

The whole family started laughing and they went inside to eat their food.

"I hope there is no hedgehog in there…" Mike chuckled.

…

After dinner, Phillip and Mike were called into the living room by Hannah.

They walked in to see Hannah sitting on the couch. She wore a yellow maternity shirt. She was pregnant with a new baby, also a boy. Hannah saw them walk in and called them over to the couch.

"Sit here please."

They sat on the spot Hannah pointed at. Phillip however put his ear next to her belly.

"You think I'll be a good brother?"

"Of course; you just act the way you are now."

"Really?"

She nodded her head.

"When I grow up I want to be a doctor."

"Is that why you read so many medical books?"

"Yes, and its fun," he chuckled.

She laughed back.

"I'll be a doctor and I'll have a family. I would be the greatest father and husband in the world; at least a close 2nd to my father."

"Yeah, your father is great."

"I agree. Hey! Mother! The baby kicked!"

"He did huh?"

Phillip sat back up and looked at Mike, "Come feel it Mike!"

Mike still had hot chocolate from dinner and during the whole conversation he smiled at how sweet the talk was. Now he could feel her belly; when he did he rubbed his hand around in circles and was surprised to feel something move.

"It is moving!" he was startled, but it was a nice feeling.

"See! It's amazing: the gift of life."

"Phillip, Mike, I called you here because someone's at the door," Hannah walked to the door.

On the other side was Phillip's cousin Lannie with her mother Gracie.

"Lammy!" Phillip yelled in joy.

"I wish you would stop calling me that," she said, but she still had a smile on her face.

Gracie hugged her sister and the cousins did the same.

"Lannie, this right here is Mike Kikoeru," Phillip pointed to his friend.

"Nice to meet you Mike, I guess you can tell I'm Lannie or Lammy,"

"Nice to meet you too, and why are you called Lammy?"

"Phillip started calling me Lammy after a lamb followed me for weeks,"

"Interesting, where's the lamb now?"

"You don't want to know…"

The three went into a burst of harmonious laughter.

…

"Mr. Phren, may I ask a favor," an old withered voice said through all the conversations happening in the living room.

Phillip turned around to see the old hag. She used her finger and beckoned him to come over. He turned to his friends and said he had to do something. Mike and Lannie hit it off pretty fast too.

"What is it now old fool?" he said sounding a bit annoyed.

She glared at him, but ignored his insult, "Go to the well…"

"And do what?"

"To get me water; why else?"

"Oh, understandable. I mean by how old you're getting it must be hard to move."

"Funny Phillip. So you take this pail and get water for the kitchen."

He nodded his head.

"…So you then bring the pail of water back to me," the old hag instructed.

"You won't move from this spot… right Madame. I don't want you breaking your legs," the little brunette said nervously. He likes to make fun of her, but doesn't like to go overboard.

"Of course, just let me talk to your mother. Okay dearie?"

He smiled and nodded his head triumphantly, "I won't let you down."

"That's a good boy Phillip," he then waddled off.

…

He was outside and he was actually surprised the old hag trusted him enough to fetch a pail of water. He was in the courtyard and looked at all the beautiful flowers.

There were daisies, lilies, cattails, cherry blossoms, and his favorite the white rose. He doesn't like the bland white roses. He loves the ones that radiate in the sunlight and are the purest white you could ever see. Those are rare though, but what's more rare is his number one favorite flower – the black rose.

He took a whiff of the fresh air and made his way towards the well.

He dropped the bucket and turned the crank, but he stopped when someone yelled in his ear.

"Hi Phillip!" a feminine voice exclaimed.

"Hello there Helen…"

He turned around to see a girl with black hair and a big puffy red dress. She wore a bonnet on the top of her head and on her hands were white gloves. She was also wearing red high heel shoes.

"Phillip wanna play?" she asked jumping up and down. She was holding a doll in her hands, maybe hoping he would play house.

He really doesn't like his fiancée, but he wants to make his parents happy; besides he can have a divorce with her later on when their companies merge.

"I don't know. It's kind of late."

"It's only 8:00pm," she checked her watch.

"Oh, well I have to get this water first."

"Okay, how about afterwards!"

"Ummm…"

"Phillip!"

He turned around to see his mother crying and she grabbed him and carried him in the air.

"Mother what's wrong?"

"Don't play dumb! You ran off without even leaving any sign of where you were headed."

"Don't run away like that!" the old hag said after following the mistress into the courtyard.

Phillip looked up from his mother and saw the wrinkled lady grin. He mouthed the words 'I'll get you for this' and she just said, "You should make him spend time with Helen to get his mind off of running away, Mrs. Hannah."

"You're right, come along Phillip."

Phillip was about to attack that witch. She knew he doesn't like his betrothed, but she did it anyway. That was low.

…

After a long, agonizing 2 hours with Helen, she finally left.

He carried Mike's bags into his room and helped set up the bed.

"You really don't like her…" Mike said while getting himself comfortable in the new bed.

"Oh, if I could divorce her now, I would take up that offer in a heartbeat."

"I see, so what do you think about Lannie?"

"She's my cousin…"

"I know, I know…"

"You've been talking about her all day. Do you have a crush on her?" he grinned.

"Of course not, that would be silly."

"Love isn't silly."

"I don't love her…"

"Come on, it's all over your face."

"Go to bed."

"You're not my parent, you can't tell me what to do."

"I can tell you that I'm tired. Let's just drop this conversation as it is."

"Fine, but just for now."

Phillip walked over to his patio in his room and scanned the whole city. He liked to sit on the railing and just look at the view. The city was so full of life. Cars were bustling, trains were stopping, and people were talking about their plans.

The lights were the most gorgeous of all. Blinking lights that just mesmerized him.

He felt something kick his foot and looked down to see the hedgehog.

"Hi there little fella'. What are you doing here?" he looked over to see Mike sound asleep.

"You and I both buddy."

He picked up the little animal and put him on his lap.

"I hope I get to find that girl who found you tomorrow. It would be nice to see her again."

The small hedgehog snuggled into Phillip's arms and he gave out a small sneeze.

"Bless you, its allergy season."

The animal continued to try and fall asleep.

"You see that smoke on the horizon. It comes and goes every now and then. I asked my mother about it and she said 'there is nothing to worry about' and I hope not. My birthday is in a couple of days and I wouldn't want something terrible to happen."

He stared off into the stars and thought about a birthday present he might be getting.

He grabbed the hedgehog and put him in his bed and then himself. He closed his eyes and dreamed of his happy place. He felt all warm inside and with that he dozed off.

_It was bliss…_

**I hoped you liked my quick update. I actually have three binders full of notes and drafts just for this fanfiction. So, I try really hard to make it as best as I possibly can. Review/Favorite/Follow and I hope you guys stick around for more.**


	5. It Was Short Lived

**The reason I'm updating so fast is because I really want to get this 5th chapter up before I have school – since its Labor Day weekend I have enough time. The last chapter was more of a filler, sorry.**

**This chapter does contain gore. Trust me; I studied almost a 2000 page book on human anatomy and physiology. I'm tired, it's early in the morning, but I want to go to bed. Instead I studied human anatomy just for this story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo Media does. Also, any other major franchises I mention here I do not own. All the music I mention belongs to their respective owners. I do not own the name for Flippy either.**

**Shattered Mirror**

He was in the zone.

He could hear his friends and family cheer him on.

'_You can do this Phren,'_ the adolescent male told himself.

With a swing, his sword reached his opponent's neck and that threw them off balance.

His family cheered. He had won his 9th first place fencing trophy. It was a moment he was proud of.

Phillip walked over to the bench and threw off his gear. He took a bottle of water that Mike handed over to him and drank it feverously. After so many matches he finally won, but not without the support of his family and friends. Even the hedgehog was there. He found out she was a girl and named her Fable – after the girl he met.

He hasn't found her yet, but it's only been a day so who knows.

"Phillip that was amazing!" Mike exclaimed. "I wish I was as athletic as you are."

"I'm not that good," he grabbed his trophy and awaited his parents.

"Not that good? You're kidding right! You had four tournaments today: swimming, cross country, taekwondo, and fencing. You got first place in all of them except taekwondo – you got second in that one."

"Well you're the artistic one; I wish I was like you."

They laughed about their little argument.

"Boys come on, let's go!" they heard Hannah's yell across the room. They left the building but not without taking a picture in front of the arena with everyone; including Mike.

…

The flash was blinding, but somehow both Phillip and Mike managed to not blink during the picture.

They were standing in front of Phillip's wall of trophies which were gained not only from his athletic skills, but his skills in math, science, English, and many other things.

"I don't even have a medal…" Lannie came out of nowhere. "Isn't that right Mr. Pickels?"

She was talking to a pickle she had in her hand.

Gracie came over to their house yesterday to tell Hannah that Lammy was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The boys didn't learn about it until early that morning.

"Sure, yeah right, Mr. Pickels!" Mike looked a bit down. Phillip grabbed Mike's sleeve and brought him over to a corner.

"Mike you can't show any signs of sadness to her. She will try to get rid of Mr. Pickels if that happens and it will make everything harder. She just needs time."

"I know…" he turned his head to face his friend, "I just don't like the fact that she might live like that the rest of her life." He looked back up at his best friend and his face looked worried.

"I agree…"

They went back out and saw that she was dancing with the pickle. What were they to do? They were still just kids.

The trio – or four if you count her imaginary friend – went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of scones made by Mike's mother. She came back late last night, but she said he could stay as long as he wanted.

Phillip sat in front of Mike, and Mike sat next to Lammy, but they had to leave one spot for the pickle.

As a side note, Phillip was kind of glad Helen got in an 'accident' and she couldn't move for at least two months.

They didn't mean it. Mike and him actually planned something else entirely, but plans can backfire.

Oh, they planned to do so many more pranks that day. One of them included a spider, fake blood, and a fire extinguisher.

…

It's the 4th day Mike had stayed at the manor, and it was Phillip's 7th birthday. It was a grand celebration. Phillip still couldn't go to school yet because the doctors were still concerned about his mental health.

That day he still had his brown hair tucked into a ponytail, but he wore a much fancier outfit. He had his dress shoes polished – and not full of dirt. He also wore a white tail coat tailored just for him, plus a pure black rose he had found in the garden tucked into his pocket. To finish it off, his pants were white, but were sewed together with gold thread.

To tell you the truth, he felt overdressed for a birthday.

He walked over to the dessert table and found himself devouring the cookies without even realizing it.

The table was long and was covered in a white tablecloth. In the middle was a spot for the cake, but the rest of the table was filled to the brim of sweets.

The guests stared at him as if he were some new, wild, and exotic animal at the zoo, because he kept getting crumbs all over the table. It started to feel awkward for him, so he took as many cookies as he could and left.

He looked for some guests he could recognize. When he saw blond hair in front of his eyes, he smiled and waved at the guest to come over, "Buddhist Monkey, come over here I haven't seen you in quite a long time!"

The 21 year old man turned around to see his English instructor, "Friend!"

Phillip ran over to him and gave him a big hug, "How are you? I heard your English is getting better!"

"English is getting very good. I have new friend because of my speaking language!"

"Really? Who is it?"

He pointed to a man with blue hair and yellow highlights on the sides. That man also had fruit punch in his left hand, but he seemed to be holding lettuce on the right.

"Lumpy?"

"You know of my American friend?"

"Yeah, he was my babysitter when I was younger. I was also slightly his tutor."

"Let me bring him to us, OK my friend of young age!"

Phillip chuckled and corrected the Chinese man with his English. Phillip then patiently waited for him, but he got distracted with something else.

"Charles?" he said to an elderly man of maybe late 50's.

The man named Charles turned around to see his young master, "Charles the butler or Charles the cat, because I'm not a cat."

"I've missed you so much. Your replacement butler was terrible. I hated him with all my gut. You're my favorite butler!"

"Oh, thank you, but I try my best of course."

Phillip squeezed him into a hug, "Have you met my best friend Mike! I think you would like him."

"Oh, I would, but it's time for cake!" he said enthusiastically.

"Already!" Phillip started running towards the dessert table.

"You better not be up to your shenanigans again Phren," he called out to him.

…

"Are you ready?" Phillip asked his friend Mike.

"Ready as ever…" Mike put on his gear and got under the table.

Phillip pulled out his phone to get a video of the next events. He had to stand next to the cake though, so he asked Lannie to do it for him.

The cake was a seven layer, 3 tier cake. It had blue fondant and white icing all over it. On the top it read 'Happy 7th Birthday Phillip!' followed by a smiley face.

"Everyone let's get ready to sing!" Phillip's grandfather announced.

Lannie was in the background with the camera and everyone started chanting, "Happy Birth-"

They were interrupted by Mike bursting out of the cake. Everyone had cake and icing on them and some of them were weeping about how their clothes were ruined.

Mike came out of the cake wearing fake deer antlers and fake hooves.

"I've always wanted a pet deer!" Phillip and Mike gave each other high-fives. Their prank was a success. Lannie walked over to them and gave them the footage. They kept rewinding and rewinding over and over again, until it started to hurt to laugh.

Everyone looked at them and they started grinning.

"Mike?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"I think we should run."

"What makes you think that?"

"Umm…" he stammered, "That!"

Mike looked over to where he was pointing and saw people holding pieces of cake in there hands like they were going to throw it. Actually, they were.

"FOOD FIGHT!" people were parading to get over to the tables and get some food to throw. Mike and Phillip were the main targets – look at them, they were covered in spaghetti – but they weren't the only ones hit with food.

William slipped on a pile of fish and landed in gravy. Monkey was hanging on the ceiling fan with his hair, trying to not get food on him, but still got corn in his ear. Even though the servants had to clean up the mess afterwards, they also participated. Liam – or Lumpy – pushed Pop into the punch bowl. Gracie found her face stuck in the jell-o, but she pulled Hannah along with her.

Mike and Phillip agreed to one thing that day, _'Best Night Ever!'_

…

Two days after the party, Phillip noticed the smoke coming from the horizon again. He got worried because the smoke was a little closer, but once again his parents told him that they were safe.

"Phillip, how are you?" Mike's mother walked in and since she was a psychologist she wanted to help with his _mental issues. _

"I'm fine Sarah; please I wish to be alone right now."

"Oh, no can do. You and your grandfather have an errand to attend to. I'm sorry."

"It's fine…"

He was still wondering what happened that day, at the party.

_Phillip was running around, trying to escape from his parents stuffing cheese down his pants. He hid in the kitchen and went to one of the drawers. He thought he could get some sort of shield, a pan or something. He dug his hand into the cabinet, but got his finger cut from one of the knives. "Ouch!" he yelled. He examined the finger and saw a long stream of red liquid flow down his finger._

_Everything was silent around him. He couldn't hear anyone scream or shout. It was absolute silence._

_Without knowing, his finger was suddenly in his mouth and he could taste the metallic taste of his own blood. The creepy thing about it was that he actually liked the taste._

_That's when he was snapped back into reality._

'_Why did that happen?' _he thought in his head. He decided to leave the subject at that and he went downstairs to meet his grandfather.

…

"Grandpa James, can I get some cookies at the grocery store?" Phillip asked innocently.

"Of course, go on right ahead son."

"Thank you!"

He went into the Grocery Mart and bought every kind of cookie known to man. He couldn't help himself.

When he made his way to the exit – still munching on his cookies – he saw a cloud of smoke covering the sun. He held his bag of cookies nervously. When he turned around to head back to his grandfather, he heard a firearm go off. Phillip thought it was just his imagination, but then he heard another one.

Curiosity got the better of him and he went to inspect the back of the building.

Before he even got there, he saw a trail of familiar red liquid brightening up the street. He still went to the back of the building – who knows why – and widened his eyes. His mouth opened slightly and his eyes were as big as dinner plates.

He couldn't scream, he couldn't talk, he couldn't even move.

What he saw was so horrifying for a boy his age. He felt like throwing up, but even if he did there wouldn't be a difference because there she was.

'_Destiny…'_ he thought in his head.

She was lying there; as still as a doll. Her face looked pale and she was holding an apple in her hand. An apple as red as her blood itself. Phillip saw several bullet holes on her: one on her forehead and the other one over her heart.

He dropped his cookies and ran; he didn't even look back.

His heart was pounding at a rate he had never experienced. Was it fear? He didn't know and he didn't care.

"Grandfather! Grandfather!" he yelled like it was the end of the world. Tears were coming down his face in small quantities. He knew he had to be brave, so he held back his tears.

He searched every corner, high and low. His Grandpa James was no where to be found.

Phillip then thought the 2nd best thing to do was hide.

He found a barrel and thought it would be perfect. He opened the lid slowly and didn't discover an empty barrel.

He started throwing up. He didn't give a fuck about if people saw him; he just threw up right on the concrete. His tears came down in streams now and it mixed with his puke. He felt more disgusted that day than any other day.

Phillip found a headless body in the barrel. He recognized the clothing as his grandfather's and resumed crying again.

The shirt on the body was stained with blood and the body itself had a few gashes. The cuts were still oozing out the color red like little waterfalls. There was no head, but you could see a spinal cord protruding out of the thick meat which was James' neck. Phillip wondered where his head was and noticed another barrel next to it. He knew he shouldn't have, but he did anyway.

He opened it up to reveal just what he expected, his grandfather's head, but it was much more gruesome than he thought.

At the bottom of the container was the head. Phillip could see the ripped skin that would connect the head with the body. Both his eyes were open, which added a creep factor to the whole thing. Phillip also noticed one of his ears was bitten off, completely. The whole head was drowning in blood.

Phillip started choking on his tears. He forgot how to breathe. He doesn't know what to do in a situation like this. It was terrifying and horrible. He wishes he could unsee what he just saw.

What was he going to do? Should he scream? What if the people who did this find him and kill him in an even gorier way? His head was throbbing, and everything in his vision became blurry. He turned his head to the right and noticed a fire starting to spread. He's guessing that is what caused the smoke.

He knew he should run, but should he leave his grandfather? The situation was getting more and more complicated by the second. Then voices reached his ears; they were male voices.

Phillip thought he was rescued until he listened into their conversation.

"Yeah, we's gonna start the riot heres right?" the male on the left said.

"Yep, you bettcha' we are going to kill every damn one of them mother fuckers!" the one on the right responded.

"Yeah boyie, it does gonna be fun tonight! We gets to come out of hidin' from that hell hole!"

Together they simultaneously said, "THE RIOT BROTHERS!"

Phillip didn't even think, he just ran. He had to go home, or maybe tell the police so they could stop those lunatics. However, he didn't know his way around here. This was the south part of the city – a place he's never been to unless with Destiny on a field trip or his grandfather.

While running, his tears dripped onto his clothes and then onto the ground. They started fogging his vision and he wiped them away with his sleeve. But then, another thing blocked his vision. Clouds of smoke were in the air and it was getting harder to breathe. He also saw the color amber in front of him and halted to a stop.

There was fire in his way and a tree knocked down as well. He started having a coughing fit. He had to get out. Where though? How? Was it possible? Why did this happen so suddenly? His life was wonderful until today. Was it karma? He didn't do anything wrong. He is always kind to others and helps them out. He might tease people, but he never really meant it!

More and more tears came out in pools.

_What the hell was going on?_

**Oooh intense! You all know the procedure! See you next time!**


	6. Silver Lining

**This chapter also contains gore like the last chapter and it's a bit dark, I guess that's the word. This chapter is rated M too.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo Media does. Also, any other major franchises I mention here I do not own. All the music I mention belongs to their respective owners.**

The news spread like wildfire. Everyone in the city was trying to escape. They heard of the fires over the radio and the deaths that had already occurred. The press wouldn't give out the names, but about 15 people were already dead.

The Phren household was in complete chaos. The old hag was trying to get everyone into the safe house. The chef was gathering enough food that would at least last a few months. Charles was trying to calm down Hannah and William; they were panicking like no tomorrow.

"Will! Will, he's… he's in the south district! That's where the riot s-started and your father! What are we going to-"Hannah was pacing back and forth.

"Shh, shhhh, shhh…" William shushed his wife and reassured her of Phillip's safety, "He is a brave boy. He's strong; he'll know his way back, but we can't go out there. It's too dangerous out there. If anyone should go look for him, it should be me."

"No, n-no I can't let you. Sweetie I have never been so scared in my life! I need, I n-need my baby…"

"We will find him. I know it…Trust me."

…

Mike was sitting on the porch. He was waiting for the return of his friend. He looked to the moon and prayed.

'_God, just yesterday we were playing a prank on the neighborhood pastor. It was hilarious. Now, he's far away, lost, and probably missing his family. Everyone is in the cellar, but me. That's because I won't leave unless I know that he's safe. He is the only person who understood me and vice versa. Yesterday, I heard him play the most beautiful melody on the piano; I believe the song was Pachelbel Canon. The way he played it made me think of swans gently grazing across a lake. I would hate to not hear his music again.'_

Mike couldn't stand it. What if he went back in the cellar and Phillip came here injured. He wasn't taking that risk. He looked at the shining bright stars, but he knew that tonight wasn't beautiful. The stars were just a façade to hide the dark terrifying riot going on.

He saw little Fable – the hedgehog – crawl on his lap.

"Oh, what are you doing out of the safe house little one? Did you get lonely? I'll keep you company," he said to the little creature.

"We can both wait for him. He'll come back…"

…

His hand rested against the wall. Phillip was covered in cuts and bruises. He went through rose bushes, cactuses, and even broken buildings to end up even more lost.

It has been over an hour and Phillip was about to collapse on himself pretty soon.

In just an hour, the whole southern district was covered in flames. Hearing firearms for Phillip was pretty normal now. As he was wandering around, he got to know more about these _'Riot Brothers'._ Apparently they were not all brothers, but they were a pretty big group of hundreds of men who hate the system here.

The leaders, however, were brothers of whom Phillip has yet to meet.

He was panting really hard. He had hurled all over himself earlier and he might've pissed himself on the way back too. Phillip leaned into the wall and slid down hitting his rear on the ground.

He looked like a mess. _'Disgusting…' _Phillip said as he looked at some broken glass that showed his reflection.

He was missing one of his shoes – a dog ate it.

He was covered in holes – the men tried to shoot him.

His ponytail was messy and started loosening up – from all the running.

His lips were covered in blood – he got hit with a bat.

If he joined a beauty competition he would win – in an alternate universe.

His tears were dried up, but he still felt like crying. Phillip never felt so miserable in his life. He thought about maybe fighting back, but the way the men stared at him just made him too afraid to. He couldn't stand 12 feet away from them and not be scared.

Phillip sighed, but his ears picked up a loud scream coming from the right.

He stood up on his two feet and decided to take off his other shoe to make running faster. Phillip then sprinted away; jumping over the broken cell tower. The sparks from the flames kept hitting his eyes and he tried to block them out, but it was no use.

His thighs were burning up, if he kept this up, he would literally die from exhaustion. He rested against another wall and looked up to sky. He couldn't see the stars or the moon. It was replaced by a thick cloud of smoke.

The image of his dead grandfather kept fogging up his mind. He came to a conclusion that he really was dead, and so was Destiny. He kept pinching himself hoping it was just a dream. Phillip hoped he could wake up to see Mike halfway on his bed. He hoped to hear Lannie tell him about some gossip she heard over the radio. He hoped to still be able to run away from the old hag and get some cookies along the way. He hoped and hoped, but what could hope do for him now?

He didn't hear any guns, so he decided to walk over to the deserted building.

In seconds, he saw people die.

In minutes, the Riot Brothers destroyed most of the buildings.

In an hour, a big portion of the city was covered in flames.

'_How could it have happened so fast?'_

The building was on fire on the inside – of course. Phillip didn't even have to open the door, just by getting closer to the building; the heat radiated around it was overwhelming. He was about to turn around, but he heard a cry. It was a cry for help.

The cry didn't actually say 'help' per se, but Phillip knew that this person needed his help. Suddenly, he didn't even care for his own safety. He jumped right into the building. Phillip expected someone to be hiding away inn a corner, but instead he found a baby.

It was a tiny little baby wrapped up in a blanket. It was beautiful, but Phillip needs to help the baby first before admiring its beauty.

"Don't worry, I got you. Don't w-"he stopped halfway when he had another coughing fit.

He walked over to the baby – careful to not get himself burned; he already singed a part of his hair. With extra care, Phillip gently kneeled down to pick up the baby, but maybe today wasn't his day. When he tried to pick the baby up, before he could do so, he heard a creaking sound and leapt for the door. What collapsed was a tree; a tree on fire. That made the building's fire even stronger. Worst of all, he couldn't save the child.

…

After heading back to the grocery mart – he went in one huge circle – he noticed more and more people were getting killed. They were not showing any mercy, they were just attacking the innocent. Phillip even had to witness a lady's heart be taken out.

He remembered that the man just walked up from behind her. He took the knife and stabbed her where her heart should be. Slowly – agonizingly slow – he pulled his weapon out of her and forcibly squished his hand into her gash. The man pulled out the heart – his whole arm was covered in blood – and fed the heart to his dogs.

Phillip thought he was going insane. The screams were too much to bear. He tried saving people, but it failed every time. This caused his tears to return in full force. What's the point of going home knowing that you could have saved dozens of lives, but couldn't?

He kept yelling stuff like, "I'll help you," or "Don't worry you'll be safe!"

_They were lies._

The men had gruesome ways to kill the people. They threw babies off roofs, they decapitated elderly men, and they shot the women. They didn't kill the children though. If they were old enough, they let the children do all the dirty work. It was horrible. Children were killing parents just so they don't get killed themselves. Phillip can't imagine what pain they were going through, until he heard someone behind him.

He turned around but it was too late. They grabbed him by the shoulders and pinned him to a wall. Phillip looked up to see the same two bastards he saw earlier that day.

"Hey looks at this ones here! Looksie, he looks pretty healthys to mes. Just a bits bashed up!"

"Boyie, I think you're right! He lookin' suitable enough to kill hundreds of them cunts!"

"But cans he fights?"

"We'll see right now," he shook Phillip in the air, "Boy wakey wakey, rise and shine! Show us your stuff son of a bitch!"

Phillip couldn't move. He knew that if he made them angry they would probably put him out of his misery.

'_Slap'_ the men hit him hard in the face. This left a huge red mark on the side of his cheek. He had no options left, but to fight – he was born only with that reflex.

The bastard on the left got a surprise when Phillip kicked him in the gut. This made him let go of him, but Phillip was grabbed by the other guy with bad grammar. Phillip used his free arm to punch him in the face and then he kicked him where it really hurts.

The man crouched down and started holding the place where Phillip kicked. The other man, however, was just getting up. He pointed a gun right at Phillip, but he grabbed the barrel of the gun and pointed it upwards before the man could make a shot. The poor bastard then got kneed in the face.

Phillip started sprinting away, but right when he thought he was free, he was wrong again.

There were three canines standing in front of him; growling, foaming, and their mouths covered in blood. He started backing away, but tripped and fell on the ground. He was surrounded. There were 3 bloodthirsty dogs in front of him, two bastards behind him, and he was shrouded with fire. He began crying even harder than he did before.

All of a sudden, a mask was around his mouth. It muffled his talking and he tried to pry it off, but a hand was keeping it in place. It was one of those bastards.

"Don't worry little one. If you just cooperate. We'll take things nice and easy…" his voice started fading away. Phillip felt very numb all over his body. He still had his eyes open and he could see they were carrying him somewhere. Gently, his eyelids closed and everything turned black. He only thought of one thing,

'_This is how I start my year as a 7 year old?'_

…

He woke up and he could slightly hear a conversation happening outside the door of wherever he is.

"…yeah…and I…Phren's boy…agree…"

"Sure…kill…money…that will help us… in the long run."

Phillip couldn't see anything though because he had some sort of cloth covering his eyes. His hands were bonded together and so were his feet. Combined with the bondage, his arms and legs were chained to something he couldn't see – maybe a bed. Phillip also couldn't close his mouth. There was a gag in it and it made swallowing his saliva a lot harder. Therefore, he just let himself drool all over it. He also smelled urination, which might've been him when he was passed out.

This was bad. This was really bad. He didn't know where he was and he was getting claustrophobic. He was panicking. The brunette started struggling to get out.

"Oh, look who's awake, _'the boy with the emerald eyes'_ you do know that's what people call you right?" He pulled off Phillip's blindfold and pulled his chin towards him.

"Man those are some damn pretty gorgeous eyes. Actually, your whole body is in decent shape. I wonder how much you would cost if I sold you in parts."

'_Human trafficking? Is that what he wants?' _he thought quietly to himself.

"Nah, I think it would be better if I just use you as a weapon. But, I think at least one of your eyes would be over 30 grand. Maybe I should take just one,"

Before the bastard could think Phillip head butted him and he landed on the floor.

"Why you son of a bitch! You are a really good fighter though, so I think I should keep you alive…for now."

Phillip was crying again. The hot stream of tears rolled off his worn out skin. The man unchained him from the bed but kept the bondage. Phillip rolled off the bed and landed on the floor. The bastard placed his hard cold boot against Phillip's cheek and began laughing.

"Wow, how pathetic are you? Maybe I should take one eye that's bland and then take the other one, but it has tears in it. That will probably sell for 50 grand. Hah!"

Phillip tried to shove the man off of him. He wriggled and pushed, but to no avail. Phillip looked up at the man and noticed he was bald but everywhere else was pretty hairy. He had a big honker, but the moustache made it look a bit smaller. He had a watch on his left arm and a tattoo on his right. He wore a brown aviator's jacket, but it had the words 'Riot Brothers' on the front. On his back he had a Barrett M107 50 cal gun attached with a sling.

The man grabbed the smaller boy and placed him in a chair. He tied his bonds to the wooden furniture and he sat down in a chair in front of Phillip.

"You are going to answer me truthfully, yes or no. Got that!"

Phillip nodded his head.

"Are you Phillip Phren?"

Phillip didn't answer he just stared right through the man. He didn't want to give him all his information.

He slapped him hard on his left cheek, "Answer me!"

Phillip resumed his tears, but sorrowfully answered yes.

"Are you William and Hannah's boy?"

He nodded again.

"Will you take us to their house?"

He shook his head and tried to find a way out of the chair before he slapped him again.

The bastard did slap him though, and harder then before, "Why not?!"

Phillip was crying. His tears were getting into his mouth and he could taste the saltiness. He kept crying and he tried to scream, but the gag muffled his voice. He tried untying the bonds like in the movies, _but this was no movie._

He tried everything he could with all his might, but he wasn't strong enough. He was weak and tired. He wanted to go home so badly, but truthfully he didn't know the way back home.

Phillip tried to tell him that, but the gag kept getting in the way. This time the man kicked him in the stomach – I guess it was payback.

"I'm not taking off the gag; you just need to answer the damn question!"

Phillip shrugged his shoulders hoping he would get the sign; luckily he did.

"You don't know your way home, huh. Well, for now you can stay here and rest. We need our strongest warriors to stay strong."

He untied Phillip on the chair and placed him on the bed. He took the chain and just tied one of his feet, so he wouldn't escape. The bald bastard also took off his gag and when it was released Phillip started panting heavily in relief.

The man didn't even look back at him. He just left him there to sleep. There wasn't even a blanket. Do they really think he could sleep in a place like this? There were rats and cobwebs and droppings everywhere. What made it worse was that he didn't know if his family was safe or his friends.

Not to mention he was hungry and dehydrated and hungry. His stomach was growling like a wild animal. His throat was dry and he really needed something to drink.

He noticed a liquid coming down his arm and it was the familiar red he saw too many times today.

Phillip recalled that when he tried to escape, one of his pursuits made him accidentally scratch himself with his nails. That was probably what caused the bleeding.

'_Am I that desperate? Do I really want to drink my own blood to quench my thirst?'_

He was that desperate. Without a second thought Phillip licked his cut and once again had that weird sensation he had when he drank it for the first time. When he was out, he was still thirsty. He needed more.

'_I'm going to regret this.'_

He found the gash that the blood was coming from and quickly bit into it. He yelped because one, it hurt, and two, there came quite some blood after he took a bite.

Phillip tried to drink as much as he could, but not too much that he would lose a substantial amount of blood. He hated himself for what he was doing, he _was _pathetic.

The taste was gratifying and Phillip started getting scared from how much he liked it. He quickly removed his mouth from the opening and began crying – he never cried so much in his life. Why did he like it, first of all? Second, drinking that was way below him. He didn't know what to do. He missed his family and he had no better idea than that – besides drinking his own urine, which he was not planning to do.

He despised the color red now. It was horrible. It represents blood which is the giver of life, but if you lose too much of it, it's the sign of death. It's the color of fire which could destroy thousands of trees, but can leave space for new ones. Why was the color red always a good thing and a bad thing? It was like black and white. It was so contradicting.

Phillip started listing all the reasons he hated red. There were so many reasons, but then he stumbled on one red that stood out amongst all other reds.

'_Fable…'_

She was the only kind of red that made him fall in love with the color all over again. He didn't get to know her that well, but the things he did get to know about her made him think she was wonderful. Her eyes, also a bright red that stood out. Phillip thought that maybe her eyes are probably more beautiful than his. This got him thinking.

If he just thinks about meeting her again when this is all over, maybe he can make it through. If he just thinks about her smile on the other side of this dark road, then he _can _make it. She was the silver lining.

Phillip heard the clock click and turned his head to see that it was 8:00pm.

'_It's been two hours…'_

Indeed, all this happened in just two hours.

In two hours, he had been beaten up in every possible way.

In two hours, he had run so many times he felt as though his legs would fall apart.

In two hours, his oxygen depleted and came back so many times.

In one hour, he lost his will to live.

In one hour, he had given up, but then he found hope.

In one hour, he wasn't the well trained Phillip anymore.

In one hour, _he became insane._

**How did you like it! I hope you liked it, but who am I to say – I think this story is crappy. Anyway, review and all the other junk. For now, until we see Phillip again, let's pretend we are in Phillip's happy place.**

**Flippy: PENGUINS?**

**Me: Yes *puts on cool shades and sips tea***


	7. Lost My Arm and My Sanity

**If you're wondering what took me a while to get this chapter up, blame it on the penguins.**

**Penguins: : ( **

**Okay, just kidding. I was working on a cover for the story. I'll post a link eventually.**

**WARNING: Gore is in this chappie and other stuff…like cursing. So rated M.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo Media does. Also, any other major franchises I mention here I do not own. All the music I mention belongs to their respective owners.**

_4 hours_

Phillip woke up at twelve in the morning. He had not wanted to, but was forced to do so anyway. He didn't even wake up in bed. He found himself outside on the concrete floor. His bonds were untied, but what lay in front of him was a simple rifle. Next to that was a walkie talkie of some sorts.

Phillip stood up – his hair was in a mess and he smelled like old dog poop. That fowl odor almost made him pass out, but he was afraid the bastards might kill him for doing that. Phillip walked over to the communicating device and heard a muffled voice over the other side.

He turned up the volume and heard someone rudely say, "Get the gun you's little brat."

Phillip didn't argue, but he took long slow steps trying to prolong having to hold that killing machine.

He grabbed the barrel of the gun first and then the handle. His hands were shaking; actually his whole body was trembling.

Phillip has never held a gun before. When he was holding it, it gave him a chilling sensation throughout his whole body.

He knew what they were going to make him do. They made all the children do it. The only reason the police and the soldiers brought here couldn't win was because none of the adults showed themselves. They said '_it was better them than us.'_

There was still panic throughout the whole city. The place was heavily guarded from the outside, but the inside was a complete disaster. Who would be brave enough to save them?

Phillip held the gun with caution. He overheard on the speaker that he was supposed to just kill anyone he saw, even if they were comrades. Were they crazy?

"I can't-"

"Do it!" the man on the other side yelled. He calmed his voice down a notch and said nonchalantly, "Just take the gun and shoot. Reloading on that thing is easy too. Any noob would know how to use it. There is a packet of bullets just to your right."

Phillip turned his head to the right and saw the bullets. He was scared and killing goes against all his morals, but he didn't want to get killed himself.

…

He was walking around in circles and luckily saw no one. That meant he didn't have to shoot, for now.

Phillip could hear screams though. It made his journey through the deserted southern city a painful and terrible one.

The screams echoed in his ears. He couldn't stand it. Those are people he could be saving, but here he is doing the exact opposite. He thought about saving someone, but when he did he got hit with a tazer from one of the bastards. After that he got a brutal beating and now he has a black eye.

Every time he passed by the stores, he would eyeball the cookies and just wish he would be able to taste them again. The only food the men would feed him was stale bread and one slice of chicken. Phillip was one of the lucky ones, since he was one of the stronger kids he got to eat, but the majority couldn't. They all just starved to death…

Phillip made a left at the fork in the road and discovered… a person.

There she was; her skirt ripped and her eyes had bags under them. Fire was surrounding her and she appeared hungry.

It was still dark and the stars were only little spotlights compared to the fire. He couldn't see her face, but it didn't really matter to him, it was still a person; a person he _had _to kill. If the _'Riot Brothers' _found out he had an opportunity to kill and didn't take it, who knows what would happen.

He didn't want to though; it was an innocent little girl. What about him? He still wanted to go back home and not in pieces. Phillip was trembling again. His hand was unsteady and he couldn't see straight. Could he really do it? Could he kill?

The gun kept moving side to side and Phillip really didn't know what he was aiming for.

'_Maybe I should aim for the brain or the heart to kill her right away and get this over with,'_

What was he thinking? He contemplated about the idea and thought maybe he should aim for himself, but then he remembered his silver lining. He has to stay alive.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Phillip tried not to cry, he really did, but he let one single tear crawl down his face. He brought his chin down to his chest and brought his rifle up.

His left hand was on the barrel and his right hand on the trigger. Phillip looked back up and in the blink of an eye, he pulled the trigger.

It was only half a second, but Phillip felt like it was over an hour.

The bullet went straight through her heart and blood followed after it. Before she could even scream the bullet was already halfway through her organ. That was it she was dead.

The liquid trailed all the way to the gunman's feet. He stood there, as frozen as ice. The gravity of the thing he had just done was overwhelming and powerful. He felt numb all over and his eyes remained wide-eyed.

"Mommy, tell me that was just a bad dream…" he said out loud.

"Tell me that I'll be safe in your arms and that the world will gather together and live in harmony, but mommy, this doesn't look like it. The world seems bad and merciless. Everyone seems to be fated to just die in the end. I have a question…Will you hate me if I said I killed someone? I feel so terrible. The feeling I have inside me is a horrible feeling. Make it go away mommy! Will you hate me if I said I killed… Helen?"

Phillip noticed the face of his victim after ranting to no one in particular. Helen was lying on the floor; dead as rat meat.

Phillip crouched down and dropped his gun. He hugged his knees and rocked back and forth. His eyes were bloodshot and his pupils were dilating at a quick speed. He was humming _'Hush Little Baby' _to himself and kept thinking in his head, _'I'm insane!'_

Phillip grabbed his hair and curled himself into a tight ball.

Out of nowhere, he began laughing like a maniac.

"Hahahahahahahahahahhahah! I feel like I'm in one of those soap operas! I wonder what other wanker out there has to say about me now! Am I still beautiful? Ha! Doubt it!"

He continued laughing and began scooping up some of Helen's blood and drinking it like a dog. He was losing it. He was mad and not in a good way. His personality wasn't calm and easygoing, but it was now wild and _insane._

Phillip grabbed his gun and swung it on his back. There was blood all over his face and he began walking around and blindly shot in the air. He might've killed several birds.

He walked over to a cracked mirror and looked at his reflection. His brown hair was all over the place and was no longer in a ponytail; it went a bit past his shoulders and curled at the ends. His eyes had bags under them and he noticed his left eye kept fading from a green, to a yellow.

"Oh! Look at that! I'm so crazy I have heterochromia!" he continued to laugh.

"Oh I never felt so alive! I was always rambunctious, but now I feel anew! This is the real me bloody wankers! Isn't it the bee's knees! Isn't it just the bee's knees?"

He continued to laugh, but noticed his reflection wasn't copying what he was doing.

"Am I imagining things or have I gone around the bend?"

'_You aren't imagining anything, me…'_

"Who said tha-"

'_You, me, I, we, or us I suppose…'_

"But how is my reflection talking?"

'_We are the same person Phillip. You talk for me, but I can only do what you wish.'_

"I wish to go home…" he said sounding a bit sadder than before.

'_Then let me take over…'_

"What?"

'_We are both strong. You might even be stronger than me. I admire that, but if you have an aching feeling inside of you; I can help. I can be the one who does all the talking for you. If you have an opinion on someone and you want to say it, I'll say it for you. Stuff like that, you know? I could do it for you.'_

"I think I am insane…"

'_We are insane, but it's the real us and we must show the world that this is who we are.'_

"I don't think I need your…my help right now."

'_Suit yourself or myself and I will be back eventually though. Toodaloo!'_

"That was strange…"

…

_3rd day_

Phillip had killed several other people today. He doesn't know why he hates the fact that he's killing innocent people, but he would always smile at the aftermath.

'_Damn why am I so sadistic…'_

He tried to hate it so much, but it wouldn't work. It was painful, yet pleasuring to watch.

It was three days he had been doing this. He almost forgot about going home this whole time. He only hoped everyone else was safe.

The days were just speeding by so fast. This was the longest he's stayed away from his parents and it was hard. His teeth were starting to smell because he couldn't brush them, and his clothes smelled like P.E gym clothes.

He just followed orders and tried to behave, but sometimes he would just go berserk. Phillip doesn't know why, but it just happens.

It was 7:00pm and he had to guard the doors to the Riot Brothers secret hideout. In his hands were a bayonet and some sticks of dynamite. He hoped he didn't have to kill anyone or else his _'wild' _side would come out.

He just paced back and forth idly looking at the sky.

Phillip then heard something rustle in the garbage cans. He looked for the source of the noise and saw two flashes of green pass by. They both went inside a garbage can and Phillip went to inspect.

He thrust his bayonet into the lid of the trash can and slowly pulled it out. On the knife was some red oozing liquid. Phillip gently took a sample with his finger – he always tasted the blood of his victims – but he didn't taste blood. It was jelly; he opened the lid to reveal jelly filled doughnuts stacked in the garbage bin.

Phillip closed the lid and at the same time heard two male voices snicker behind his head. He quickly turned around to face two identical boys about the same age as him. Both of them wore green scarves, but one of them had on a fedora. Both of them also wore dark green masks to hide their identities.

They knew they were in trouble and ducked behind big garbage bags. Phillip was about to shoot them, but he overheard them arguing.

"I told you we should have just taken the food and left!"

"Well it's no fun like that!"

"It's no fun that we're going to die!"

"Geez killjoy much…"

'_They're American…'_

Phillip let his guard down and smiled. They were adorable and reminded Phillip of him and…Mike.

He dropped his gun immediately after remembering his best friend. He looked at the ground in shame and thought about how much of a terrible friend he was. How could he just sit and obey when he should be trying to get back with his best friend?

Phillip rushed into the building and grabbed a plate of bacon; trying his best to not be noticed. He succeeded and went back outside to the twins.

"Come here…I won't hurt you," he placed the tray of pig meat in front of them.

They were cautious – you could see it on their faces – but one of them grabbed a bacon strip and took a bite out of it. That twin nodded his head in approval and handed his pair a few bacon strips. They smiled and quietly thanked Phillip for the tray.

"You could have it all…"

Their faces showed they didn't want to take all the bacon, but their hearts were so full of alacrity that they complied.

They were on their way with the tray, but the one without a fedora stopped to look back at the green-eyed man and gave him a thumbs up.

Phillip was surprised, but he just sighed and picked up his gun. This time he actually thought about his silver lining and thought of a way to escape.

Before he could plan it out, the bald man from a few days earlier came barging out of the front doors and grabbed Phillip by his collar.

"Did you eat our food little runt!"

"Maybe I did, maybe I did…" Phillip barely choked out.

"Oh, and we thought maybe about sparing you another day. I guess we could sell you now!"

"Go ahead sell me! It would be better than living with you pigs…"

"Why you!"

The man raised his right arm and was about to punch Phillip, but was stopped by someone.

"We can't hurt him! People pay good money for beautiful bodies such as this one! We have to keep him in shape!"

"Fine, but we are selling him tonight!"

…

Phillip had blindfolds over his eyes and his hands and feet were tied again. It smelled like debris and onion rings down there. He knew they took him underground, but at least put air freshener there.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the auction with a beautiful 7 year old boy. He has the body of a god and is quite healthy too. His hair flows just a bit beyond his shoulders and a brunette I tell you, my how lovely! If I take off his blindfolds, you'll see the most beautiful eyes I have certainly laid my eyes on!"

With that, the auctioneer took off his blindfold in one swift motion and everyone said, "Ooh," or "Aah," or even "Those eyes should be worth at least as much as all of England herself."

Everyone in the audience wore masks and all of them looked eager to buy his eyes.

The auctioneer, however, started with a different direction, "Let's start with his arm. Just the arm and not the forearm, we'll do the whole arm with his right side. Anybody, $150?"

People were bidding back and forth, and so far it was neck and neck between a Dutch lady and a French man. His arm was worth 15,000 Euros, apparently; the woman won by a landslide.

The auctioneer pointed towards her, "Going once, going twice, and sold to the lady in the red jacket for $18,855!"

The same auctioneer called out to a couple of men in the back of the room and they came forward. When they got on the stage, one of them was holding a cleaver in his right hand.

Phillip knew what this meant and even though he had all that time to think of a plan, he came up with nothing.

One man held Phillip in place while the other one was getting ready to slice his arm.

Just like that, the knife went through his elbow. Phillip screamed so loud, he swore that his parents could hear it. The edges of his eyes were full of tears and he felt like a total wimp. His forearm wasn't completely cut off yet though and it was just hanging by his bones.

The butcher knife kept pounding against the joint and finally the cracking sound of his bones reached Phillip's ears and he screamed in agony.

Blood was covering the floor and the men got a cloth to clean it up and make sure he doesn't lose too much blood. Next, was to cut off his shoulder – the part the woman auctioned for – and even before the men cut it off he was already begging them to stop.

"Please…please I-I'm begging y-you. Oh no, please, just l-let me…" his eyes were watering and he was running out of options.

'_Crunch' _and the knife went through his flesh and hit his bone. Once again he screamed and it was a torturous and painful scream.

"Yes ladies and gentlemen, the louder they scream, the more they are worth!" the auctioneer yelled in joy.

Every time the man pounded his knife against his skeleton, Phillip yelped and kept crying. The man was about to give up on just cutting the bone – because it wouldn't come off – and decided to saw it off.

'_Shriek' _was the loud and high pitched sound the bone made when he began sawing it off. Phillip thought this was a much more torturous way to cut it off and tried to shove the other man who was holding him down because of how painful it was.

His screams became high-pitched and he was about to give up when he remembered, _'Then let me take over…'_

He needs to get away, so what other choice did he have than to listen to himself. He closed his eyes and tried to see if he could contact his other self.

Nothing.

Phillip was getting scared and then looked at his left arm which was almost completely off, but what caught his attention was the blood. It was red and oozing and disgusting. He wanted to throw up when he saw that awful color. It scared him so much.

'_Do you want my help now?'_

"Please…"

Phillip then lost all control of his body, but he could still see what was going on. His body just stayed still for a while, but he then could see his body moving. He wasn't controlling it though.

"Yellow eyes?" the auctioneer exclaimed, "He has color changing eyes! It's worth even more!"

'_Yellow eyes? Why do I have yellow eyes is it because of…oh'_

"Oh yes yellow is so in right now! You got to keep up with these fashion things every now and then…" this voice was much raspier and darker than Phillip's, but it was coming out of his mouth.

Phillip – or his other self at least – started gritting his teeth at the pain that was sent through his body. The real Phillip couldn't feel anything, but why?

Without any hesitation, he head butted the man pinning him down, but that caused his arm to fall off completely. Phillip then broke his feet free from the bonds and grabbed the knife the man originally was holding.

'_Wait! Don't kill anyone! I just want to escape!' _he yelled at himself from the inside.

"Oh don't be a pussy. These people deserve to die! You underrate revenge Phillip and you need to know it's not a bad thing."

Phillip didn't listen any longer and just started attacking.

He took the knife and through it like a football, aiming for the chandelier which collapsed on the majority of the crowd; killing them instantly.

He walked over to the other side and picked up his knife again. When someone tried to shoot him, he used one of the dead bodies as a shield. He carried the body while walking over to the shooter and quickly grabbed the barrel of his gun and bent it backwards.

The man was astonished at first because of how strong he was, but he came to his senses; a little too late. Phillip jabbed the cleaver into his forehead. The man had a huge gash between his hair and his eyes. The cleaver went straight through his skull and you could see his pink brain between the red liquid.

…

Phillip still had no arm on his left side and he tried to stop it from too much bleeding by covering up the flesh with his right hand. The blood was still seeping through his fingers though and it stings to touch anyway. He still had yellow eyes meaning that the real Phillip wasn't in control yet.

He came out of the underground tunnel and found himself in the north city.

'_I can go home…'_

"I can go home…" they simultaneously said.

He began walking, but he saw a speeding truck coming for a magenta haired man and immediately his eyes turned back to emerald green.

"Look out!"

The man hit the back of his head against a stop sign, hard. It would have been a lot worse if Phillip hadn't blocked the truck from moving. The truck skidded across the pavement when Phillip blocked the way with his one arm, but the truck didn't pull over soon enough and now his leg was stuck under a wheel.

He managed to pull himself out, but now a bone was protruding out of his leg. He was missing an arm and now he's crippled; just his luck.

Home was so close, yet so far away. What was he going to do? With his right arm, he used it to start crawling back to the manor, and he used his good leg to do so as well. Nobody was going to stop him. Nobody was, but maybe his body would.

His vision was getting blurry from the loss of blood and he couldn't feel anything anymore.

He wasn't feeling too good and he thought maybe this was the end of Phillip Williams Phren.

It was getting harder to breathe and getting harder to see. He heard a dinosaur, no an ambulance. His mind was playing tricks on him and he didn't like it. Then he saw it, an ambulance just a few miles away. It was getting closer to him and he thought he saw Mike, his mother, and his father standing next to the driver and pointing at him; they were yelling something but he couldn't hear what they were saying.

"That is such a realistic mirage…" he silently laughed at himself.

Then he was engulfed with a white light.

**You like it! You don't like it! Put it in the reviews anyway! I'm thinking about changing this to rated M, but I'm not so sure if I should. Anyway, I hoped you were satisfied. I think I did okay on this chapter, what do you think guys?**

**Flippy: meh… you made me seem wimpy**

**Mike: I made an appearance so it's great!**

**Flaky: I w-wasn't in i-it…**

**Lumpy: *talks to lettuce* I think you should stop seeing Ranch.**

**My OC Cedric: Oooh, bloody me like!**

**My OC Melody: I love pixies and your story was fabulous!**

**Rainbow Dash: How did I get here?**

**Me: You got here because you clicked on it! : ) **

**Bye guys!**


	8. Macabre of the Night

**Little fact: I listened to U-KISS and the song Sail by AWOLNATION while making this. I don't know why I mentioned that, but I did so deal with i-**

***Gets shot…***

Apparently it wasn't a mirage. Phillip could barely open his eyes to see doctors in white masks cowering over him. They were yelling incoherent words, and the blinding light on top of him made his head spin. He was still in the ambulance – he could just barely make out the sound coming from outside the vehicle.

Phillip lied outstretched on the gurney and an oxygen mask covered his mouth, but it wasn't enough. He had to push himself so hard just to breathe. Blood stained his clothing and his hair fell upon the bed so gracefully, it was painful to watch. It was a bloody scene, but such a small and delicate boy.

The men and women put gauze upon his shoulder blade which used to have an arm there. It stung like hell and Phillip arched his back in agony. He was screaming, but the doctors kept rubbing his body and saying, "It's going to be fine…" he didn't feel like it was going to all be okay.

When they touched the severed bone coming out of his leg he twitched it and gripped the handles on the gurney so hard, he thought he would get another cut from just that. He repeatedly turned his head left to right every time the doctors tried to _'help' _him. His screams brought tears to his parents' eyes.

"We are terrible Will! Here he is in his most desperate time of need and here we are doing nothing!" Hannah covered her mouth and tried not to cry too hard.

"Hannah look at me. I want to help, but the only option we have left is to be there and help him along the way," he said this with so much passion it was poetic.

They were both crying and told the driver to pick up the pace.

Mike sat there. He just sat like a statue – every now and then, however, he helped the doctors by getting their tools – and his eyes just laid upon his beat up friend. Mike noticed so many cuts and bruises; even bite marks. _'What happened to him?' _was all he could think of. Even he hasn't seen so much blood before. It was gory, and terrifying, and it was happening to his best friend.

…

"Hook him up to the I.V stat!" a female doctor yelled throughout the commotion.

"He's losing a lot of blood ma'am!"

"That's why hook him up!"

Phillip didn't open his eyes too often anymore, but he noticed that he was in a hospital when he opened them again. It wasn't a hospital he's been to before – probably a hospital outside the city so they wouldn't get killed by the Riot Brothers, just as Phillip witnessed.

The needles were hooked up on his right arm; it wasn't painful compared to the other things going on around his body. The men and women in surgeon uniforms, and lab coat looking things were surrounding him. They peeled the dead flesh on the circumference of his shoulder and bandaged his arm. His leg was a much longer process.

"I'm cutting the bone…"

"Got it."

"Scalpel!"

Phillip could see their eyes through the goggles they wore and could tell they were nervous. He already lost a good amount of blood before coming to the hospital and he was losing a lot more now. Without warning they cut through his bone, but he was so numbed out, he couldn't feel it.

His oxygen mask was fogged up and he was getting short of breathe. He was blinking his eyes very sleepily and he got so tired of blinking he just closed his heavy eyelids and kept them there.

"We finished clamping his leg."

"Good, now all we need is to…"

They stopped and all looked at the heart monitor.

Phillip was getting tired. He tried to open up his eyelids, but could barely do it. He saw a sea of green and could see his mother pounding on the door and his father trying to restrain her. He also noticed Mike holding a bouquet of flowers and Phillip spotted a silver tear crawl down his face.

He then gave up his pursuits in trying to open his eyes and just kept them shut. He was too tired to move, he was too tired to blink, and he was too tired to breathe. His mind was exhausted and he just wanted to rest, so he let himself do so. Phillip's body loosened up, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his head rolled over to the right like a fallen tree.

"Flat line…"

"Flat line everybody!"

The doctors and nurses were rushing their way to the young brunette. His skin was cold and lifeless. The family tried to rush in and see their child. There eyes were like waterfalls and they kept crying out: "Please! Let us in! That's our child! We must go help him!"

The guards blocked them out though. Hannah was the one who struggled the most, however, and thrashed her arms in an attempt to get in.

"P-please! That's my baby…you can't touch h-him he's ours! H-he's my baby boy!" the guards had to grab her by the waist and carry her off into the waiting room with everyone else following.

In the operating room, the doctors tried to shock Phillip back to life.

"Clear!" the man pressed the state of the art equipment against the boy's chest and heard a _'thud' _and then silence.

"Clear!"

'_Thud' _and then silence.

"Clear!"

'_Thud' _and once again silence.

It was a repeating pattern that went on and on until a few minutes later.

"I think I'm calling it."

"Yeah, he's not coming back."

They looked at the poor boy and could see the ghost of a smile.

Phillip saw darkness and then he felt weightless. He couldn't help but smile – even if no one could see it. At least to him, he was finally _home. _

"No pulse?"

"Nope, don't feel any."

"I'm calling it."

"Sure?"

"Yeah, I'm calling it."

"He looks dead to me…"

"Time?"

"8:40"

"Calling it in, November 26th 2001, 8:40pm."

"OK."

"Someone alert the parents/guardians."

"Right on it."

"Thank you."

…

Hannah and William were balling out on the main floor holding no shame.

"N-no! It's not t-true! My baby!" Hannah said between sniffles and cried on William's shoulder. Her face – and William's – was red because of the tears and Mike was not excluded.

"We did everything we could," the doctor's sweet voice tried to calm them down, "He's lost more blood than we could have imagined. It was too hard to manage and he drifted off. I'm so sorry for your loss. Do you wish to see him?"

…

They walked through the curtains and immediately ran over to his bedside. William held his wife's hand and held his son's with the other. Hannah kneeled next to her son's unmoving body and wept on the sheets. Mike, meanwhile, sat far from the family observing and silently crying himself.

There he was; as still as a rock.

Hannah began shaking her head and covered her mouth with her hand, "N-no! No! Don't take my b-baby!"

The whole family was going through immense pain. They all had different ways of expressing it: Will just stared at the body in disbelief, Hannah wept and wept, and Mike silently prayed.

William looked away for a second and then turned his head back to face Hannah, "Do you remember one of his favorite nursery rhymes?"

"Of course…" she wiped her tears away. Mike was intrigued, but tried to stay out of it because they were Phillip's family and he was just a friend.

Hannah and her husband smiled and began to sing the round: "Frere Jacque, Frere Jacque, dormez-vous, dormez-vous, sonnet les matinez, sonnet les matinez, ding, dang, dong, ding dang dong …"

Mike asked if he could join in – he knew the song but in English.

"Of course you can…" Hannah still had tears in her eyes.

"Frere Jacque, Frere Jacque, dormez-vous, dormez-vous, sonnet les matinez, sonnet les matinez, ding, dang, dong, ding dang dong …"

"Are you sleeping, are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John. Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing. Ding, dang, dong, ding, dang, dong…"

They sang their sweet melodies and heard someone on the other side of the curtain, "If you want, we could get each of you individual times – you know to talk to him."

Will asked his wife and she nodded her head. Hannah and Mike left and William was the first one to talk to Phillip.

"Y-you know…I wanted to take you t-to the county fair. I w-was hoping we could play that ball g-game and…and win you a puppy," he said between his tears which were all over his face.

"Y-you said you always wanted one and I-I hoped when this was all over we c-could g-go get you one. You would name it and take care of it and play with him or her all day. A-actually I wanted t-to do a lot, like go to Japan and see the a-ancient temples. We c-could go to C-China and see the G-Great Wall. You and I would stand side by side o-on the summit of Mount Everest and w-we were going to show the world that the Phrens did it. I-I wanted to b-be their on y-your first day of school – the doctors wouldn't let you because they were unsure of your mental health."

He started fantasizing about that day and imagined how bright his smile would be.

"I wanted t-to be able to help you fight your f-fears and defend yourself at sc-school. N-no one would mess with you Phillip, though r-right? I w-wanted to teach y-you how to talk to girls a-and make s-sure you treat t-them right. I w-would t-teach you how t-to deal with your first crush – even if you're married. A-and I w-would teach you about how y-you n-need to study for a test. A-and I would c-congratulate you when y-you get an A+! W-we would go g-get ice cream a-and your mum and I w-would l-let you have all the c-cookies you want. Y-you do t-that anyway but at l-least that t-time would have f-feeling behind it. I w-would teach you how to stay organized and use a locker. I would be there on your back to school night and they would say you are an amazing student. I wanted do be there when you graduated middle school. I wanted to be there and teach you how to shave. I wanted to argue with you, because you would be a teenager and I guess the hormones changed the way you acted by a little. We would be fighting back and forth, but we would always have each other's back. I wanted to teach you how to drive and you would be pretty scared at first – of course like I was. I wanted to see you in a tuxedo and dancing at your Senior Prom. I wanted to be at your high school graduation. You would have a diploma and everything! I wanted to help you pick a college and also pack. I wanted to cry when you had to leave for about nine years to be a doctor. I wanted to be able to see you on holidays and we would talk about how you were progressing. I wanted to do it all…but this one bullet led to another and a massacre occurred. Those idiots killed my pride and joy!" he gulped and took a deep breathe. His blonde hair slightly covered his eyes; he removed it to take a look at his son.

"I-I only wish we could have done the things you like the most before you…moved on."

He sighed and looked at the floor. A spider started crawling on his foot and red blood coming off of Phillip was on the ground as well. The spider would surely drown in Phillip's blood if he didn't leave, but the arachnid died in the pool of red after slipping off William's foot.

"I wish I could see your eyes one last time…"

…

Hannah stopped her tears from flowing, but her face still showed sadness. It was her turn to see her child.

She intertwined her fingers with Phillip's and moved his bangs behind his ears – they were matted with sweat and blood.

Presently she started to picture her boy's smile. Images flashed in her mind and it made her think of this day, but 4 years ago.

"_Oh honey, why aren't you in your bed?" 3-year old Phillip was carrying his blanket and had tears swelled up in his eyes. Hannah was on the edge of the bed and in her hands was an article. She had her reading glasses on, but momentarily took them off to examine her little boy, "I know it's your first night sleeping on your own, but if you'd like I could sing you a lullaby." Her son nodded his head and crawled on the bed; letting his mother's lap support his head. She began the sweet melody and stroked her son's head back and forth._

"_Hush little baby don't say a word, Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird won't sing, Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring," she paused for a brief moment and looked down to see her son slowly, but surely, closing his eyes._

_She continued, "And if that diamond ring turns brass, Momma's gonna buy you a looking glass. And when that looking glass gets broke, Momma's gonna buy you a billy goat. And if that billy goat won't pull, Momma's gonna buy you a cart and bull. And if that cart and bull turn over, Momma's gonna buy you a dog named Rover. And if that dog named Rover won't bark, Momma's gonna buy you a horse and cart. And if that horse and cart fall down, you'll still be the sweetest little baby in town. So hush little baby, don't you cry. Daddy loves you and so do I…"_

_Phillip was asleep in her lap and she to drifted off into sleep, his incandescent smile always did that to her._

Hannah sang the same tune to her _'sleeping' _baby and listened to his steady heartbeat. She always did that when she was unsure of something. The thing was, she couldn't find his heartbeat. Hannah sulked in her chair and noticed some blood flowing from his arm and tried to stanch it, but she realized it wouldn't do her – or anybody – any good. _'You were going to be a brother,' _she rubbed her stomach and sighed.

She then called in Mike – the last visitor – and he walked into the white room. He honestly didn't know what to say. He just started listing all the pranks and things they were going to do – just like William – and then stated how their idiosyncrasy would probably make them outcasts in school. Mike also started saying the good things about life and balanced them with the bad.

"I think we often get more bad luck than good, but that makes life more thrilling! I guess it's a good and bad thing huh? We humans tend to have a lack of humor when it comes to personal pain. That's why I love the circus; because people laugh at how stupid people act, but what they don't realize is that they themselves make the same faults."

He looked at his friend's dead body. He just couldn't fathom the idea of burying his friend underground and under a small stone. Mike knew that Phillip had to be stronger than that. On his lap was a bouquet of garish flowers, and Mike definitely didn't want to put it on the top of his grave.

Mike put two of his fingers and placed them on the nape of Phillip's neck and got _nothing. _He was hoping for any sense of life and was heartbroken when he realized there was no pulse. He thought about his life before Phillip and it was a pretty terrible one. People always made fun of him and they harassed him in so many ways. He didn't want to go back to that lifestyle, but he guesses he's going to be all alone again.

He opened the somewhat limpid curtains and was about to leave, but he turned his head once more to see blood drip down the arm of his friend and drip down off his fingers onto the cold tile floor. _'This is it…'_

Mike nodded his head to the nurse and told her to continue with the procedures and he opened the creaky door and left with a slam. Even though the windows were double pained, you could softly hear Mike sobbing on the other side.

The nurse unhooked the I.V and oxygen mask and was about to lay over the boy a piece of cloth, but was stopped by a squeaky voice.

"Wait!" she stretched out her vowels and was waving her hands like a monkey. In one of her hands was a pickle.

She tugged on the nurse's scrubs and exclaimed, "You didn't let me go ma'am!"

"And what might your name be?"

"Lannie, Lannie Monet!"

The nurse brought out a clipboard and smiled at the young purple-haired girl, "Well you are on the list, so I'll give you a few minutes…" she wandered off to do something else.

Lannie had Mr. Pickels in her hand, but she didn't really care about him because of her concern for her cousin.

"Hey cous! You can't die on me like this! We need you back at home! Right Mr. Pickels?"

'_Of course Lammy!' _Mr. Pickels said – although it was just Lannie talking in a deeper voice.

"Yeah, because you said you would always keep your promises and if you die that means you break our promise!"

'_You are correct again my dear Lammy…'_

"What am I going to do without you? You've changed so many lives! Not necessarily in a good way, but you've changed lives! People say the good die young, but I believe the brave would have what it takes to stay alive! There will be a time when you need to go, but this is not it. This is not your time! I won't sit here and watch them put a toetag on you! You cannot go to heaven now! Heaven can wait to take you away from this family."

'_Truly poetic Lammy…'_

"Thank you Mr. Pickels…and now," she was interrupted when _'jumped'_ out of her hands and landed on the floor.

"Mr. Pickels! I don't have time for your silly games!"

She picked him up, but when she stood up, the back of her head hit the heart monitor.

"Ouch!" she rubbed the back of her head and tried to ease the pain, but she heard a beep come out of nowhere.

Her eyes were wide eyed and she looked at her pickle and asked him, "Did I just here that?"

Another beep went off and then another and another. They turned their attention towards the heart monitor and saw Phillip's heartbeat coming back up. Lannie's body was jittery inside and she smiled a smile that would probably leave her sore for a couple of days. She giggles like a little school girl and began biting her nails and jumping up and down and doing all sorts of crazy shenanigans. Then she realized she had to do something.

"We've got to go tell everybody!"

She ran out of the room with a sense of urgency and yelled at the top of her lungs, "HE'S ALIVE!"

Doctors and nurses stared at her wildly like she was some sort of crazy child, but they carried on with their business. Mike patted her shoulder and gave her a sincere smile, "Lammy, I think you have been watching too many Frankenstein reruns…"

"No!" she quickly grabbed his head and made him look her in the eye, "he's alive…"

Mike stared at her with a blank face, but then he smiled as brightly as she was, "I knew it, and he couldn't die yet! Come on this is exciting! We've got to tell **everybody**!"

There they were running up and down the long hallways. They told everyone that they could get their attention on and even told a deaf person with bandaged ears and orange hair about it. They eventually ran up to Hannah and William and they couldn't believe it until they saw it.

…

Doctors and nurses were surrounding Phillip; they wanted to take a look for themselves the miracle that just occurred. Phillip was slowly waking up to see the world around him and his emerald green eyes caught everyone's attention. Immediately the parents ran up to their child and started murmuring about their miracle and how they thank god so much for what happened. They all had tears of joy.

Their hugs were so tight, Phillip couldn't even breathe, "M-mom, d-dad, c-constricting…" they apologized and let go; they kissed the top of his forehead and he lightly smiled at them and hugged them tightly as well – or as tightly as on arm could do.

Mike and Lannie were jumping up and down in the back of the capacious room and were chatting with each other.

"Oh my gosh! Lannie you did it!"

"Me?"

"Yeah, your **FAT HEAD **saved our friend from death!" he added a lot of emphasis to 'fat head'.

"Oh yeah and- wait what did you say my head was?"

"If it weren't for you Phillip would be dead as chicken at KFC!"

"Thank you but about my head…"

"Oh that big head of yours sure does come in handy every once in a while…" he placed his hand upon her shoulder and left to go greet his friend.

"…M-my h-head?" she gripped the top of her head and hunched her back so no one would see her, but she walked over to see Phillip as well.

All was going great, but perfect, happy endings only happen in movies right?

Lannie walked over to Phillip and noticed his reflection on the window; his eyes weren't green, but instead were yellow and grim.

She rubbed her eyes and the reflection was back to normal. She smiled wearily and went over to her cousin's bedside.

Phillip was overwhelmed by all the attention he was getting, but then felt a finger silencing his mouth. He looked up to see himself, but with different colored eyes – almost evil eyes.

'_Shhh, just be happy we're alive. Also, let's keep me a secret okay…' he smiled an evil Cheshire the Cat smile and snickered._

Phillip shook his head and blinked, but noticed no one was there except his family and a few others. He shrugged it off and continued to chat with his family, but the doctors said he needed to go get checked in the other room so they pushed him off into the next room while he was on his bed.

'_Truly…only happens in movies.'_

**I guess you now know why I called this 'Macabre of the Night' but no one actually died. So, I don't really know why I called it that. Anywho, this was kind of a filler, sorry guys. I'll try to update on the next one as fast as I can.**

**As a side note, wasn't the ending to this chapter 'Fedroable'****I mean Shifty wasn't in this chapter, but I just had to say it. Review and see you later!**


	9. Mental Instability and Green Hair?

**Guess who's dyeing their hair in this chapter! I think I just gave something away bigtime – also the chapter title gives it away. Anyway, they aren't dyeing their hair per se, but their hair does change! I feel stupid, because I forgot to mention in the last chapter Mike's broken arm and it if the information just pops out, I'm sorry.**

**Warning: GORE! And swearing…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo Media does. Also, any other major franchises I mention here I do not own. All the music I mention belongs to their respective owners.**

**Also the names for the tree friends were inspired by HitTheRoad's fanfiction Paranoia Fuel. Go check it out!**

He was finally home! Phillip was extremely excited to see his family safe and sound; the parents were more than happy to know that their child was safely back under their care. They were catching him up on some stuff that he missed like the soup they had in the cellar – apparently some rats got stuck at the bottom of the pot and so Phillip's family had rat stew. He was kind of glad he wasn't there to eat it.

His hospital bed was surrounded by balloons, bouquets, baskets, letters, and toys. Phillip especially loved the stuffed animals. They were just too cute to resist so he always snuggled with them. His bed was also full of cookie crumbs from you know, cookies. Oh how he loved his friends and family for doing this, but he didn't feel the same as before.

I guess you could say he was a changed man, but actually a boy. He looks at the world differently now. He found a new perspective on things and was a bit more reserved. Phillip remembered overhearing the old hag say the other day: "That Phillip used to be a cantankerous one I recall. But after the massacre he seemed a bit lacking or less talkative. Maybe it's just my old brain causing me hallucinations, but even so it makes my old heart break to see him so solemn."

He was indeed all of those things and quite possibly more. Phillip couldn't really think straight lately; his eyes never made contact with the person he was speaking with and he kept his hazel brown hair down instead of his normal ponytail look. He was unable to smile at anybody. He would grin or maybe even a slight laugh, but along with his innocence his smile faded away.

Phillip was on the bed and stroked the bandages that covered his missing arm. He was staring blankly at the black television set and his head rested upon the headboard. He wore white clothes that the patients wore and in Phillip's words they were _'Breezy…'_

His right foot was in a cast and it hung in the air suspended by a sling. In contrast, his left leg was lying gently on the bed sheets close to the foot of the bed. His bangs were slightly blocking his vision, but it didn't bother him.

This was the third day he was at the hospital and last night was a horror.

The first day he was at the hospital went extremely well. That was probably because he was too happy for words to explain his joy when he saw everyone he loves instead of seeing amber and blood. His enjoyment only lasted for a day.

The next thing he knew, he couldn't look at the bag of blood next to him without freaking out.

_Phillip was gazing around his room and daydreaming. He was glad that he was getting so much attention, but at the same time he just wanted to be alone. The 2nd day at this hospital was already making him feel like a prisoner in jail. It wasn't too bad; sure as hell beats sleeping on a spider infested bed in an abandoned building. He heard the birds singing in the background and gently turned the tips of his mouth into a small smile. He turned his attention towards the foot of the bed where his broken leg lied. His beam turned into a frown._

_Phillip placed his hand against his amputated arm and began sorrowfully thinking about how his life would be now without it. He wouldn't be able to feel anything even if he did get a mechanical arm. His sense of touch was now lost. It won't even feel like an arm. All the doctors can do is replace his arm and not give him his old one back. _

_Mike apparently broke his arm. He was trying to go out and find his friend, but the result turned out differently. He was beaten up as well – not as much as Phillip – getting a black eye, some blood loss, and he was nearly choked to death. Luckily, Phillip's parents came to rescue him and got an ambulance. That was about the time when they found their son dying on the streets. _

_Phillip sat up on his bed and resumed gazing around the room. The heart monitor was droning on and on and so were some other machines. Phillip lost a lot of blood and his face was pale like the moon. He still had a hard time controlling himself because of the numbness all over his body, but he managed._

_He turned his head to detect a needle or needles attached to his arm. This was normal, but when he looked at one of the tubes it had a red liquid flowing from the inside. _

_In a split second his face froze. Phillip couldn't move again and it was if his lungs were failing on him. A ringing began in his ears. His eyes were dilating and his mouth hung open like a baby would do while drooling and asking for more food. However, he didn't want food, but he wanted comfort. All of a sudden it was very cold and he was shivering like crazy. Phillip was getting chills behind his back and he was getting really anxious._

_He couldn't help it; he just screamed at the top of his lungs. He tried to cover his ears and begged for someone or something to stop. Screams were hanging around in his ears and visions of the horrors he experienced with the Riot Brothers came flooding back. _

"_I wanted to help! You don't understand!" he clawed at his wrists and blood followed soon after; he yelled again. _

_He took out the tubes that were connecting to his arm. The drips of red fell upon his white clothing and Phillip couldn't help but let out another cry for help. _

_Doctors and nurses were coming in from all directions and they were all confused. Nothing wrong was going on, but Phillip thought otherwise._

"_Stay back!" he spit onto a doctor's face. He grabbed hold of the handrail and broke a piece of it off. He threatened anybody who came close to him with the small weapon._

"_I can u-use this you know! You're all out to kill me or sell me for parts, but guess what…I won't let you! I will kill all of you before you can beat me!" _

_They gave furtive glances at each other and the boy. They were astonished to know he was strong enough to break the handrail, but were also worried about him actually killing one of them._

_One brave doctor out of all the rest stepped forward and began his little speech, "Phillip everything is going to be fine, we won't hurt you…"_

"_LIES!" he softened his voice an octave lower, "Lies…that's what it is. You are going to feed me to the dogs and maybe hit me with a rusty bat. Or even skin me and cook me in a rotisserie. You want to smell the aroma of my burnt SKIN!"_

_Right now he looked pretty insane. His hair was everywhere and his eyes were an ever changing yellow that turned back to green. He gripped the small piece of metal as if it were a life or death situation. Phillip stepped onto the tile floor a bit discombobulated but he found the strength to stand up. His vision was a bit blurry since he hasn't gotten all the blood he needs to survive, but he still did it._

_No one saw it coming, but Phillip pounced on the surgeon who dared to speak up to him and stabbed him right in the stomach. Blood was splattering everywhere and it was staining everyone's clothes and Phillip…was enjoying it._

_His glorified smile was sinister looking and he licked his lips to taste the blood that happened upon his face. He blocked out the sounds of people panicking and calling for backup in the room. In the midst of it all, Phillip continued stabbing the man. Every time he injected him with the metal, he slowly pulled it out while hearing the sweet sounds of the man's screams._

"_How does it feel with the shoe on the other foot? Do you get my metaphor? Ha!" his maniacal laughter filled the room and the man that was lying under him was nearly dead. _

_Phillip could see intestines inside of his victim and said, "Well, this looks like fun! Don't mind if I do!" with that he pulled the small intestine first and nearly yanked it out of the doctor's body, but he was pulled back by a group of people in black uniform._

_They helped out the man who was lying on the floor unconscious and they carefully tied Phillip securely on his bed._

"_Are you going to cut off my other arm too? Go ahead, take it! I never needed that shit anyway! I was…" they muffled his voice with an oxygen mask, or at least Phillip thought it was an oxygen mask. Then the familiar aroma filled his nostrils and he remembered this from the Riot Brothers making him pass out. His eyes which were a bright yellow turned back to the original green._

"_What…the…h-hell?" he finally stayed still on his white sheets and slowly drifted off._

That all happened yesterday as Phillip recalls. He was saddened to find out the man had to be _'sent off'. _What were they going to do to him now? That was the only question that haunted his head.

He had nightmares last night as well – to add on to the horror. In the horrible dream, the one good thing was that he had both his arms, but the dream made it just a small bonus to a terrible reality. He dreamt of these beautiful crystal clear lakes, but every time Phillip stepped any closer it appeared as though the lake was filled with dead bodies.

He couldn't move in the dream, but instead he stared at the countless – lifeless – bodies that lied before him. The ones that stuck out were Helen's body – which was draped in the finest black covering, but you could still see her in a bonnet and her favorite red dress – his grandfather's body and his friend Destiny's body.

He moved backwards, but tumbled onto the dirt covered roads. Phillip crab walked backwards but hit a tree. Acorns started toppling on him and he looked up to see that Fable girl. He cupped his mouth to call out for her, but nothing came out. It was as if he had gone mute.

The red-head started falling and her piercing screams made his ears bleed. Phillip tried to catch her, but she went right through his arms and she continued to fall – which didn't make sense since there was ground underneath him – but when he looked down he saw an endless array of clouds.

He was shocked and he tried his best at sprinting away but to no avail. He too fell in what felt like an eternity of clouds. Finally, he landed on concrete, but it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. He glanced at his surroundings and heard baby cries. Curiosity overtook him and he followed the sound.

He passed by a bench that had a skeleton sitting on it with a party hat. In the skeleton's hands was a cake. Phillip bent over to look at it and noticed another skeleton behind the other one. He glanced at the cake and saw the words _'Happy Birthday Phillip!' _

He stepped back and looked at the bony figures and heard them both say "Happy Birthday Phillip!" Was it true? Was it his parents? He didn't want to stay long enough to find out. He ran like the wind and found himself walking on clouds. Phillip looked up to see the tops of trees and the dirt road he originally was on. Then he figured out he was upside down. The dream was getting peculiar and more peculiar by the second.

Phillip stopped at an entrance to a cave and spotted Mike panting and falling to the ground. He tried to call for him, but forgot he couldn't speak. Mike looked up with tears in his eyes and hugged himself like a coward. When Phillip looked up to see what he was scared of, he saw a menacing dragon.

Its teeth were drenched in blood and his nostrils were puffing out black smoke. The scales were blue, but were also ragged. He didn't have wings, but he did have a long tail that was tipped with a sharp looking weapon. The eyes were bloodshot and they were targeting Mike.

The beast lifted his hand in dominance, with one huff he blew out the familiar fire that Phillip had seen so many times and it burnt Mike to a crisp. His screams were agonizing and the young boy didn't know what to do, but for some odd reason he ran up to the reptile and ripped one of his talons off. Why? He didn't know, but he definitely didn't want to stick around to see what the monster would do.

The dream kept going on and on with terrible visions of people slaughtering each other and more bloodshed. Blood was what the water was made from and red stained everything. Phillip tried to help the screaming children, but it was as if he were a ghost because he couldn't touch them. He saw them get burned, skinned, decapitated, and many more awful things.

It made Phillip want to scream once again. Actually, while in the dream he couldn't speak, in reality he was being restless. He was tossing and turning in bed and his blanket was on the floor. He yelped every now and then – which got the attention of some nurses who had to sustain him.

He kept wandering around in this _'wonderland' _and made it to a gate. Upon this fence had the words engraved _'Happy Tree Town'? _He didn't know what it meant but he pushed open the doorway to reveal a bright sunny town as opposed to the dark looking woods he was in earlier.

Everyone was smiling and planting gardens. Blood still trailed the roads, but this was better than a dragon chasing you around. He walked in and noticed someone walking up to him. Phillip backed away and tripped on a rock; landing on his rear. He tried to not look up, but he did and saw an older man towering over him.

The man crouched down to his level and Phillip took the time to notice what the man was wearing. He had on combat boots and green camo. Underneath his army wear was a black shirt and a belt used to hold knives. He had on dog tags and a green beret; finally Phillip saw the man had green hair that matched his – shockingly looking like Phillip's – green eyes.

The man caressed Phillip's face with his fingerless gloves and he was shocked to feel the cold skin against his own warm one. The man sighed and brought Phillip into a tight hug and said these words: "Don't worry…we can make it through this pain. Never forget who you really are okay. You are Phillip William Phren, beloved son of William and Hannah Phren. Brother of Leonardo Zepphon Phren – not yet born. Promise me…you'll never forget."

Phillip was shocked the green-haired man knew his name, but started tearing up again when he thought about his parents. Red began coming out of his eyes and he tasted metal. He was crying out blood; what the hell was going on?

That was about the time he woke up from that nightmare. Phillip is still thinking while on his bed, who that man was and how he knew his name. I guess he won't know for quite a while…

…

Hannah was outside of Phillip's bedroom listening to the doctor in front of her intently.

"Your son has committed murder and it seems to me you'll have to pay a major fine ma'am," she nodded her head in cooperation but inquired, "I know about the fine, but what about my son? What will you do with him?"

"It seems like we need to take care of him."

"You a-are going to kill m-my son!"

"No! Of course not miss, but we have to take a few tests and he has to stay under our care."

"So, you are sending him to a sanatorium?"

"No, but he will stay here for a while."

"You can't treat my own son like a lab rat!"

"Ma'am you are lucky you are in the U.K; if you were in the U.S he would have been thrown in jail!" with that the doctor fixed his clipboard and handed her the fee. He walked away with his shoes clicking on the tiles.

Hannah sat next to her husband and cried softly on his shoulder while he stroked hers.

"There, there, everything is going to be alright OK."

"I know, but it's my baby boy…he's hurting right now!"

"Shhh, he'll be fine. He's a strong boy, he'll be fine…" Will stared out into the window that contained his older son and noticed how frail he looked. Phillip had bags under his eyes and his hair was tangled. The doctors decided to give him injections of blood every now and then – and covering his eyes – instead of having an I.V there all the time.

He looked so pale it was ghostly, but William hasn't lost fate in his little boy.

…

_31 days at the hospital_

"I'm leaving…" Mike said sorrowfully to his hospitalized friend.

"Already?"

"Yeah, my mom says I have to go back to Happy Tree Town."

"Well, okay…"

"I'm going to miss you…" he gave his friend a tight squeeze and Phillip responded with another one.

Phillip got a mechanical arm somewhere in the time he spent in the hospital. It looked exactly like a real arm – except for where it attaches to his shoulder; it had to be covered in bandages so you wouldn't see the mechanism – his parents bought him the best arm they could get there hands on. It was imported from Japan.

"Yeah, me too; why do you have to go back?"

"I don't know, but my ma' just said to."

"Well, I'm starting my first day of school in a couple of days. I've never been to school so I was hoping you would be there on the day I get to go."

"Sorry about that. Hey, my mom has some things to give you…"

Sarah walked in to see the boys chatting and she kindly interrupted by saying: "Phillip I have some medicine I would like to give you."

"Sure, come on in…"

"Here," she handed him a container, "its some antidepressants that might help with your PTSD."

In the month that he stayed at the hospital center, the doctors discovered he had gained PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. The said disease also caused him to have multiple personality disorder as well. He might even have a slight hint of schizophrenia.

"Okay, I got it…"

"Now, these were custom made just for you. They can only be used by you. I will more than be happy to send you some more pills when you run out, okay?"

He nodded his head.

"The only side effect is that you might lose color in your hair from taking these, but I think you'll be fine with that, correct?"

He nodded again.

She smiled gently towards him and gave him a sincere hug and said her goodbyes; leaving Phillip and Mike the room to themselves.

"Mike…"

"Yeah?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course…"

"When I killed that man the 2nd day I was here…I-I"

"You what…can you speak up I can't hear you."

"That wasn't my first murder."

Mike froze but muttered, "Yeah the men made you murder right?" he chuckled.

"N-no, w-well yes, but the f-first person I actually killed w-was…"

Mike was too nervous to look at his friend, but instead he played with his fingers.

"Helen…Helen was the first one."

His face went blank and before he could speak Phillip interrupted,

"I know what you're thinking and if you think I'm a monster go ahead and say it. I murdered her, but I also went to her funeral. I'm disgusting and I know it. You all know it. Ever since then I haven't been myself. I don't do pranks with you anymore, I don't smile but in its place I give off a sudden hideous demeanor, I don't even talk as much as I used to. I claw at people – even my parents – I hiss and I throw fits, I also growl. I never knew people growl until I did it. People who had to work with me were seriously injured excluding that one man. My eyes change to a demonic yellow and I don't know why. I'm a freak. Well, aren't you going to say something?"

"No…"

Phillip looked up and noticed his friend had streams of tears crawling down his face. "Why…"

Mike gripped his best friend's shoulder and started yelling; actual yelling and not just a louder quiet voice. He was yelling at the top of his lungs, "Why are you calling yourself a freak! Do you have any idea what you've done to my life after you showed up! You changed me for the better!" he started shaking his friend repeatedly.

"You have done too many good things to evenly balance between the bad things! You know people started calling me a freak back at home! You want to know what I did? I ignored them and continued on with my life! I didn't mope around and call myself a weirdo! I believed in myself and didn't put myself down! Sometimes I would forget about that, but then I would remember that I am Mike Kikoeru! No one can put me down! What happened to your silver lining! I've heard of Fable! Her name is Fable Thorn and we went to the same preschool together; you know what! I am pretty sure she wouldn't like to see the boy who saved her from the tree sitting around like this! Color-changing eyes? I'm pretty sure they are like those eyes that more and more people are getting! People have eyes that match their mood so maybe that's why! You are not abnormal! You are my best friend and you mustn't think so badly of yourself! People will only think you are like that if _you _think you're like that! Just please, don't quit on yourself..."

His voice became more quiet, "Don't shut yourself from the world. I saw you cutting yourself in the restroom…"

"How d-do you…"

"I KNOW! I know and it might seem dim now, but the world's a very big place and you will definitely find your home. Even if you killed and you have hurt, remember no one is perfect and life is like a rollercoaster; filled with ups and downs. Don't kill yourself now, there are so many opportunities that you haven't taken yet and I would be sad if you didn't take them. People do care about you; never forget that. You are not a monster, but just a butterfly stuck in its cocoon, and he's afraid to come out of his shell because he's afraid of what people might think of him. Don't be like that…just be you Phillip."

Mike felt something wet drip onto his hands and looked up to see waterfalls of tears coming out of Phillip's eyes and landing on his hands. He was sniffling and gave out small incoherent words. Mike slowly let go of his strong hold on his friend's shirt – which now had holes in it – and apologized for his behavior.

"N-no…don't."

He saw his friend give him a small pat on the back.

"Thank you…."

…

"Aagh!" Phillip was back at home and he discovered something after taking his pills.

"Mom! Can you come up here?"

His mother and father came up to see this exigency that needed seeing, but only saw Phillip covered in his blanket.

"Phillip what happened here? We heard a strident noise and came up, but only find you looking like this!" William exclaimed.

"Look? Look! N-no don't look, please!"

William took off Phillip's sheets and discovered,

"GREEN HAIR! I have green hair! Why do I have green hair? Sarah told me I would lose color, but this! How?" indeed his hair was green.

His hair hung loosely behind his ears and passed his shoulders. It was green as his eyes.

"Oh my, green hair, well t-this is new…umm Hannah?"

She just gritted her teeth and shrugged her shoulders.

"Mom, dad, it's not normal to wake up with green hair! How is this…I don't even…what!"

He grabbed the root of his hair and gave out a long heart wrenching sigh.

"N-never mind that, because right now we have to go to the airport to say our final goodbyes to Mike."

"B-but…"

"No Flippy!"

"Wait, how do you know my nickname?"

"We overheard you and Mime talking over the phone about nicknaming each other. It's kind of cute!"

"Mom!"

"Sorry…"

They both exited out the door and left Flippy to his business.

He grabbed his sleeping pills and antidepressants and left along with his parents. He still remembers what he heard over the news yesterday…

Apparently, everybody in the Riot Brothers was fighting for a different reason, but the two leaders – both brothers – were fighting against Britain for a top secret reason. They were both executed and so were many others. Some lived, but they are laying low. The fight was over and everything was alright.

They called this riot, _'The Massacre of 2001' _and even made a memorial out of it.

…

Mike and Phillip gave each other big hugs and send their final words,

"Don't forget to call me!"

"Flippy, I think you've told me that like 20 times, come on I won't forget!"

"Just making sure OK?"

"Got it…"

Phillip walked over with his friend to where they were going to departure,

"We are now boarding flight A14," he heard a lady say over the speaker.

"This is it…" he gave Mike one last hug and also hugged his mother.

Mime started chuckling, "You gotta do something about your hair Flips."

"Oh don't start that again…"

"You could dye it!" he was entering the terminal and his voice was barely audible.

"Rather not, but thanks!" he waved goodbye and gave out an exasperated sigh. He looked out of the big glass windows and watched Mike's airplane.

He finally watched it take off and began following his parents to the nearest restaurant when he bumped into someone.

"Ouch…" Flippy looked up and saw a boy around his age with brown hair. He had on a grey hoodie and he looked a bit upset. He pushed Phillip onto the ground and walked away, but not before Phillip grabbed the boy's sleeve.

His eyes were yellow and he heinously whispered in the kid's ear, "Don't touch me. I will rip every limb off of your body before you could say 'sorry' and it'll be all over for you." Phillip pushed the kid into a trashcan and hissed at him before his eyes turned back to green.

He walked over to his parents joyfully. However, he suddenly became aware of what he had just done and looked for the small boy, but saw him climb out of the garbage bin on his own and took the banana peel off of his head.

The boy's face was flushed and he walked over to his parents. Phillip sighed and felt terrible about what he did, but when he turned his head again he noticed some red pass by. It was the good kind of red.

That little boy he just pushed over was none other than Fable Thorn's older brother.

**Sorry I took a while to update. Anyway, I hoped you liked it! If you play Fallout 3 then you could tell I got some images from Phillip's dream from that. I think this is my longest chapter yet, but I will probably make even longer ones.**

**Flippy: OMG lady are you insane.**

**Me: Yes, yes I am.**

**Also you pronounce Phillip's brother's name /Zeff-on/ just like that. Okay review time!**


	10. School and Pork Rinds

**Warning: Mentions of homosexuality in here!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo Media does. Also, any other major franchises I mention here I do not own. All the music I mention belongs to their respective owners.**

**The names were inspired by HitTheRoad's fanfic Paranoia Fuel.**

"Mother, may I go over there to chat with someone really quickly?" Phillip inquired while doing the puppy dog face.

"Of course honey, just be back at the 'Quick Meal' as soon as you're done."

He said his thanks and turned his head to look for Fable. When he spotted her he did a fast 180 and spilled some salt on the way. He ran as fast as he could because she was the only reason he was alive right now – if he hadn't thought of her, he would have given up back then.

Phillip ducked when a man was passing through and jumped when some dude was sleeping on the ground. Why he was sleeping in a terminal, heck would Flippy know?

He saw the familiar shade of red that mixed in with white specks. He tried calling for her, but instead got a sideways glance from her older brother.

The boy snickered at Phillip and blew a raspberry. He laughed and held his sister's hand; pulling her forward so she wouldn't notice the green-haired boy behind them. Flippy felt offended and thought, _'What's his deal?', _but he carried on with his plan.

Phillip still had the hedgehog in his knapsack – even though she's been nothing but trouble – and he wanted to give it to her before she left to wherever the heck she was going.

He hid behind a pillar and grabbed little Fable out of his bag. He quickly checked every two seconds to make sure no one was looking at him. When he was ready, he stepped out and was about to present the creature to her, but got blocked by some fat guy eating chicken wings?

"Hey fatty move it!" he covered his mouth almost instantly after he said those words. He's never been rude to any stranger before; usually he would show respect to them no matter what…size.

"Crap…" was all he said before he ran away from the big guy.

"My, for someone as lethargic looking as him, he can run pretty dang fast," he said aloud.

Phillip noticed behind the man a long trail of jelly-beans and chicken crumbs. What did he get himself into now? Before he could think, he felt himself skid across the floor and felt his_…"you know"_ land on a metal pole.

He puffed out his cheeks and started biting his lip from the excruciating pain going on in his pants. Flippy grabbed his crotch and tried taking slow, deep breaths. He bit his hair to keep himself from screaming and slowly got up. He felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes, but tried to contain himself.

He looked behind him to discover no large man behind him, but he noticed a janitor putting a _'Caution: Wet' _sign on the same exact spot where Phillip slipped.

He tapped the janitor's shoulder and calmly stated, "First of all," or not so calmly stated, "Really? Really! Come on; right now? Perfect timing! Second of all, why do janitors wear overalls?"

The janitor – with a very big grey moustache – shrugged his shoulders.

"Thirdly…" Phillip grabbed the old man's mop and started stabbing his stomach with it. The man gave out a few "Ouches" and "Oofs".

"Yeah, that's what you get…" he grinned proudly until he noticed the custodian had called security.

"Oops…what is wrong with me today?" he got up and ran to the nearest gift shop.

It held merchandise that said stuff like, "London 2001!" or "Big Ben is My Friend!" or even "A Stupid Ninny, Went All The Way To The U.K Just To Get Me A Bloody Shirt…"

'_Do people really buy that stuff?' _Phillip put that thought aside and continued running from the cops. He swerved through the hangers and accidently knocked one shelf down. Candy laid everywhere and the children in the store started a mob trying to get to the spilled treats.

"I want it mommy!"

"Sugar, sugar, SUGAR!"

"Go buy me a sweet treat mumsy!

"I'm a vegetarian…"

"Get me one now!"

It was full on riot. Phillip was always clumsy in stores; he never really knew why, but it always happened. He would always spill something or break something or dump something in an incinerator – don't get him started on that story.

At least that got the cops distracted and that gave Flippy some time to escape, or so he thought. He was stepping on marbles and falling on top of mannequins and - while tripping – in the girls' aisle he accidently grabbed a couple of clothes off the rack. When he got out he looked at a mirror and noticed he had on new attire.

Phillip was now wearing a jean jacket – over his original clothes - ; a yellow headband with a plaid flower coming off of it, a pink boa around his neck, and in his right hand was a purse. Good thing he didn't go in the shoes department, he doesn't look too good in stilettos; that's coming from him.

As fast as he could, he removed the ladies' clothing and made a run for the door, but not before being grabbed by his collar.

Phillip gulped and looked up to see two male officers looking pretty crossly at him.

"Hey officers…" he chuckled and gently tapped his elbow against the police's shirt, "So do you wanna grab a couple of doughnuts?"

I guess we should close the scene at that unless you want to see Phillip embarrass himself some more.

…

Phillip was waiting outside of the glass room. He could see his parents arguing to the two men who had just caught him.

He rubbed his fingers back and forth out of nervousness. He didn't mean to get in trouble; he just wanted to see…Fable. Only now does he realize that after all he's been through, he still didn't get to see her.

"Psst…" Phillip looked tot his left and didn't see anything. He turned his attention back towards his hands, but was distracted again when something hit his head.

"Psst…"

"What!" Flippy was getting irritated. He saw the source of the noise was coming from a police officer. He had blonde hair and stubbles all over his chin. His total appearance made him look like a slob.

The man gave him a sly smile – he looked almost drunk.

Phillip was getting nervous at the way the man was staring at him.

"Do you want some of my crispy pork rinds?"

"Umm, no?"

"How about some of my peanuts?"

"I'm allergic to peanuts…"

"What a shame…peanuts are good for your colon; or at least I think so."

"Where did you hear that?"

"On Wikipedia…the Ethernet never lies!"

"You mean internet, right?"

"Same concept…"

"No…"

"Yes!" he dragged out his _'s' _like a snake.

"Okay…whatever."

"WHATEVER! Back in my day there was no such term!"

"Okay, but that were back then; now is the present."

"I love Christmas!"

"I wasn't talking about Christmas…"

"You said present right? So, ye' be talking 'bout Christmas right there!"

"Never mind old man…"

"Old! I am as youthful as you little boy!"

"Can you do a cartwheel?"

"I reckon I give it a shot!"

"Do it now…"

"But I just took my meds and my doctor said not to do cartwheels while on my meds."

"He really said that?"

"No, but he said somethin' just like it!"

"Sure…"

"It's the truth; I promise by the Good Book!"

"You mean the bible? Hey, why are you talking like that?"

"I am practicing my improvisation! Although, everything I just said was true but I changed my voice."

"Wonderful…"

"Aren't I good?"

"No…"

"Shame; you want some of my pork rinds now?"

"I don't want your darn pork rinds! Why are you talking to me anyway?"

"Because you are letting me do so, silly!"

"I guess I can't argue with that. I dug my own grave."

"You look down; can you tell me what's on your mind?"

"Nah, I don't want to bother you…"

"But, I just bothered you…"

"Huh?"

"You can bother me so we're even!"

"How old are you again?"

"I'm eleven…"

"Great…"

"So, go on with your story!"

"There is this girl and…wait if you're eleven how come you have stubbles? Also, why are you here? Also, why are you in a police outfit?"

"These are just cheese puffs," the person licked his mouth, "And, I don't really know why I'm here; I just wanted to stop by the department! And, remember improvisation! That is why I'm wearing this! Now, stop dilly dallying and tell the story."

"Well there is this girl and I really wanted to say hello to her again, but she didn't look at me. I wanted to give her hedgehog back," he pulled out little Fable.

"So cute! And, I'm not just talking about the hedgehog! This girl must really mean something to you if she caught Phillip Phren's attention!"

"Yeah and… wait how do you know my name?"

"Oh, darling I know all of this city's boy hotties! And honey, you are on the top 10!"

"Hehehe…how nice?" Phillip was getting creeped out.

"Yep!"

"Hey, got any advice for my dilemma?"

"Oh, no I don't work with girls…"

"What?"

"I am a homosexual, drrr, earth to Phillip! Here is a picture of my BF! Isn't he so hot!"

"Umm, I'd rather not answer that question…"

"I love him to pieces, but he's not my one true love. I might become a heterosexual later on actually. As you can see I'm a flip-flopper, because I can't decide my sexuality. I think it's because I believe that you can love anybody no matter what shape, size, or body type. That's my belief!"

"Good for you…"

"Now don't be a homophobe! I think maybe one day we could be a couple!"

Phillip only thought of one thing when he heard him/her say that, _'Pedophile…'_

…

That he/she kept talking on and on about being a cross-dresser and was talking about his/her love life. Phillip couldn't tell anymore if the person he was talking to was a boy or girl and he didn't care.

"I love what you did to your hair! Did you dye it green? It matches your eyes so well!"

"No, for the last time I didn't dye it!"

"Geez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he/she began filing their nails.

Phillip finally heard his parents call him, "THANK YOU! Mom, dad you have no idea what kind of torture I've just been through!"

The female/male looked at him offended and resumed eating the pork rinds.

"Okay Phillip, we may leave now," his mother affectionately smiled at him.

"TEXT ME!" the boy/girl waved over to Phillip and showed him the girliest smile he had ever seen.

They walked out of the building, but Phillip noticed something out of the ordinary.

"Mom, where are the fees?"

"What fees?"

"The fees you have to pay for you know what I just did."

"Oh, we won't be paying any fees!"

"Why?"

"We convinced him to…"

"You told him about my mental disorders, didn't you?"

"W-well…"

"Or you told him I was a victim of the massacre or even both…"

"Y-yes, but…"

"Why? I don't want to be treated special just because something terrible happened to me!"

Hannah and William have never been scared of their own child, but now they were cowering.

"You think I need all this baby treatment, huh? Well, I don't okay! I can stand up for myself!" they walked pass a potted plant and he kicked it over. Clay pieces were lying everywhere.

"Phillip you know you can't do that!" she grabbed her son by the shoulders and turned him to face her. She was shocked to find…yellow eyes.

"P-Phillip? I-is that y-you?" his eyes changed back to green.

"Of course mom," he pushed her hands off of him rudely and went to the automatic doors before them.

They were all quiet when they entered the parking lot – despite all the noise from the cars – and Phillip entered the car; slamming the door and maybe leaving a scratch on the other vehicle.

William sighed and looked at his wife. She was sniffling and she wiped her face with her sleeve because of the tears that were coming down her face, but they both entered the car as well to leave the airport.

…

"Phillip, it's time for school!" Charles yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

Flippy had packed all his stuff and ate his breakfast. The thing that happened at the airport was long behind him. He moved on from it – except he can't get the image of that hermaphrodite out of his head – and was ready for his first day of learning.

He knew he would be a year older than everyone because they had to postpone his learning experience because of his mental health, but school was school.

Neatly, he brought everything downstairs and said goodbye to his parents. Charles was waiting outside in front of the limousine.

"Do we have to go to school in something so fancy Charles?"

"Well, it is proper…."

"Fine…" he reluctantly got in the car.

Phillip was wearing a uniform which was knee socks with black polished shoes. His pants were a tan brown to contrast with his navy blue shirt. It was a button-up shirt with a collar around the neck. The cuffs of his wrists were trimmed in gold and the rim around his waist was gold as well. The buttons were silver and in one of Phillip's pockets was a silver pocket watch. His green hair was tucked into a neat ponytail like it used to be.

When they arrived at the school, Phillip noticed how big it was. The entrance had a grand golden-coated gate guarding the school grounds, while in the courtyard was a peaceful fountain spitting out spurs of clear blue water.

The buildings didn't disappoint either. Since this school was a combination between elementary, middle school, and high school, there were a lot of buildings to support the mass of students.

To his left, were the middle school grounds. They were a maximum of three buildings and all of them were about 5 stories high. In the center, were the high school grounds. They had had five buildings, but each was only three stories high. Finally to his right were the elementary school buildings. His campus had 3 buildings as well and each were five stories high.

This was an elite school so it was no surprise. To even set foot on school grounds you had to be either really smart or really rich. Phillip was both, but some people aren't so lucky.

When families become bankrupt, the school does nothing but kick them out. If you had an intelligent kid, being smart was the only reason you would be there. The principal could toss you out if you started failing a lot of your classes. More than 2 D's and you were out. More than 3 C's you were out. More than 4 B's and you were out. Hell, if you had more than 1 A- you were kicked out. The same could go for the rich kids, but they could just pay there way into the school. _'Spoiled Brats…'_

If you were entering the school you had to take an entrance exam. However, Phillip is only starting kindergarten so he didn't have to.

Phillip got out of the limo and right away people were staring at him. Sure he was coming into school already after the first quarter, but he couldn't have gained that much attention. Maybe it was the limo, but so many kids come in even fancier things.

He swung his backpack over his right shoulder and began walking towards his designated area. People were still eyeballing at him though, and it was getting kind of creepy. They were pointing at him and whispered in each other's ears; they nodded when they agreed with what the other person was saying.

The children were also staring at his robotic arm. It looked exactly like a real arm – unless you touched it and then you could feel the metal – but apparently they could tell when they looked at his shoulder and a part of the seam and the bandage was visible.

Phillip touched his shoulder and walked away embarrassed. Afterwards, he heard various snickers and laughs coming from the crowd.

He walked to the medical building before actually going to his side of the campus. He had to tell the school nurses – nurses because it was a big school – about his pills. On the way to the school he actually had to take some. He's even taking some now on his way to the office.

His head would start hurting every time he did, but it helped stray his thoughts away from what happened in November. He definitely did not want to think about that dark period of his life.

Flippy found the building C-1 and walked in. He pushed open the wooden door to reveal a pretty good looking medical office. There was carpeted flooring in the waiting area, but after that followed laminated hardwood floors. On the walls, hung pictures of past students and fellow teachers. There were also pictures of what the school looked like back when it was founded – 1900.

The school was much smaller back then, but it looked affable.

Phillip walked up to the counter and saw a young lady with curly orange hair. She had on a nurse's outfit and you could barely notice she put bare makeup on herself. She gently smiled.

"How may I assist you, young sir?"

"Umm, yes I'm here to tell you about my prescriptions…"

"Aah, yes, you must be Phillip Phren. Don't worry because your parents have already informed us about your pills."

"Oh, but I thought…oh never mind then."

"How are you doing with them, I mean the medicine?"

"Doing wonderful, they don't help a whole lot though…"

"Indeed, they can't work on their own, but you have to fight as well. Do you get nightmares still?"

He nodded his head, "In most of my dreams I hear a voice telling me to do things, bad things, but I don't want to. However, whenever I wake up I get these urges."

"What kind of urges?"

"I-I don't like t-talking about it…"

"Okay, but if anything happens just page me," she handed him a pager.

"C-can you trust me with this?"

"I don't see why not…"

The lady smiled at him and introduced herself as, "Caron…Caron Weilheimer at your service…"

Phillip took out his cell-phone (**AN: I know he is too young to have a phone, but just to help move the plot!**) while walking to his classroom. He looked at the wallpaper which was a picture of him and his horse Thunder. He got his horse around the age of four, but had to give him away because they couldn't afford him after a while. He misses him dearly, but he must move on.

He found the C wing and went up the stairs looking for his room. Around him people were still giggling and pointing at him. All these stares were making him uncomfortable and he was about to say something when he bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry miss are you okay?" they landed on the ground, but he helped her up and assisted in picking up her books.

"Thank you sir I-I…" she stopped mid-sentence when she saw the boy who just helped her. She gulped and made her way around him in a quick manor and at a barely audible tone said, "Sorry…"

…

Why was the school acting this way around him? It made him feel like an outcast, but he remembered Mike's speech and continued moving forward. He walked up the stairs at a slow pace and reached the fifth floor.

"C-96, C-98, C-100, and here we are C-102!" Flippy reached his classroom and he actually had a lot of time before school started – he got there an hour early. The campus opens up early because some parents actually dislike their kids and want to leave them under the care of someone else. Those were only a few cases.

Phillip looked through the window to take a peek at his classroom. He saw his teacher in there filing papers. He waved to her and she smiled kindly in response.

She was a Taiwanese lady with her black hair in a messy bun. She had a flower pinned to her head and wore the standard uniform that the school teachers wore. She had a white pencil skirt and a button up blue shirt. She wore a dark navy jacket – just like Phillip's – as well.

Phillip's melancholy spirit was a bit uplifted when he saw how nice his teacher seemed, but he soon became confused when he was suddenly on the ground.

Someone pounced on him. Someone he didn't want to see for…well, the rest of his life.

"Hi Phillip! It's me the improvisation man!" the he/she had his/her hair in pigtails today and she wore the girl outfit instead of the boy's.

"Oh hey…umm…"

"Steph of course, remember?"

"Oh was that your name? I forgot it…"

She slapped his arm, "You have a great sense of humor!"

"Great, but can you get off of me because I can't breathe…."

"Sorry little green head!"

"Don't call me that…"

"I can call you whatever I want silly!" he/she got off of him.

"You go to this school?" he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, I knew you would to, but I didn't want to sound stalkerish!"

"Well that didn't make you seem like a stalker, but…someotherstuffdid…" he said in a hurried tone.

"I heard that…"

"You were supposed to anyway…"

"Change of subject: Have you seen my boyfriend?"

"No….hey mind me asking…"

"Yes…"

"Are you a boy or a girl?" he looked at her like he was in deep thought.

She/he looked at him in a flirtatious manner, "That you have to discover for yourself…"

Phillip felt her/his finger crawl up his shirt and he pushed it away, "At least tell me what you're registered as at this school."

"You know you are tall for a seven year old!"

"Answer me!"

"Oh the bells about to ring…catch you later!"

"Now!"

"Oh, fine. I'm registered as a girl here, but everyone knows that I'm a cross dresser."

"Thanks because I was getting confused…"

"You know what…"

"Umm…what?"

"Let's go!" she quickly grabbed his hand and made him run down the hallways with her.

"Where the hell are you taking me?"

"Oh, Phillip I never knew you cursed. I never did 'til I was in fourth grade!"

"Tell me where we are going please!"

She stopped in one of the many hallways and took out a plastic bag, "Pork rinds?"

"No, and you took me all the way here to eat crispy pork rinds?"

"No, these aren't crispy…"

"You get my point!"

"I didn't come here to let you eat **my **pork rinds…"

"Then w-what…"

She silenced him with her index finger and slowly said,

"I'm taking you on The Tour de' School!"

**If you can tell, I was a bit crazy while writing this. Please don't ask why. I had so many ideas joggled up in my mind I had to let it out. **

**Also, here is a quick question: I have plans on turning this story into an anime and potentially posting it on youtube, but I don't know if I should. It would probably take a while to draw the characters and I just don't know if it's a good idea. I plan on being the director and voice of Flaky – maybe even do some other stuff – but I want your opinion. Tell me in the reviews if I should continue with this idea or stick it into the recycling bin. Bye for now!**

**~ catch ya' later (^_^)**


	11. Taking the Time to Realize Who You Are

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo Media does. Also, any other major franchises I mention here I do not own. All the music I mention belongs to their respective owners.**

"Where the hell are you taking me?" the green haired boy was running out of breath.

"Well, I can't take you to the medical office because you already went over there to tell them about your medicine; but I believe I could take you to the quad!" the gender confused boy had his hand interlaced with Phillip's and his sun bleached hair was bouncing happily in the air as he frolicked to the yard.

Flippy was trying his best not to trip over all the stuff Steph was plowing him through. When a thought appeared in his head he asked the boy, "How…did…y-you…get into…this school?"

His new found "friend" halted right in his place making Phillip almost fall flat on his face before he caught himself. He gave a sigh of relief, but noticed Steph's stolid looking face. His features were almost numbed out and he looked impassive.

"Steph? A-are you okay?" Phillip motioned his hand in front of his tour guide but that didn't seem to faze him. "Hey Steph I just asked if—"

"Smart…I got in here because I was s-mart! Yeah, that's it…" the boy interrupted but then smiled gently at his fellow schoolmate. They continued their voyage to the back of the school; but now Phillip was a bit suspicious of the blond haired boy. He reminded himself to keep a lookout for him.

…

"Well, here we are! The quad is home to anybody who just wants to be free from all the paperwork!" Steph took one big whiff of fresh air and released it with a sigh. The two boys were currently on an outdoor hallway on the second floor. Steph was leaning over the handrail and pretended to be king/queen of the world. Flippy presently laughed and decided to look at the view.

The back of the school was pretty big. The cafeteria was northeast of where the gentlemen were standing. At 12:00 was the huge – private – cathedral only for students who go to this school. Ironically, the students or teachers are not allowed to go inside; the only one who has gone in was the principle.

Directly center of the church was a larger than life statue of one of the saints. Now, Phillip might go to church every Sunday, but he definitely wasn't the religious type. Although, he could tell that the face was probably an elderly man.

Farthest to the left was the bell tower. It has been here since the day the school was established. Vines were slowly creeping their way up to the chime and cracks were beginning to form.

To top it all off, the amount of nature was marvelous. Greenery was everywhere and it gave the school that certain spark. Below, was the crowd of children walking on tiles and running in the grass.

"Beautiful ain't it?" Phillip heard a cowboy talk, but turned around only to see Steph with a piece of barley in his mouth.

"Talking like a cowboy eh? Improv…"

"Wow, ye' know me so well partner!" he gave the boy a pat on the back and slouched away from the scenery.

"Is it hard to stay in character?" Phillip rubbed his now soar back.

"Nah, it ain't too hard! I reckon you's be better than the likes of me! Wanna give it a try?"

"Oh, nah, I'd rather not…"

"Come now, why oughtn't to like it? It'll make my aching heart break! If you don't try my language I'm afraid you's be getting a licking by the switch. Maybe I's should learn ya' and maybe that oughtta get's you going. Unless you's be full of the Old Scratch! Tell me it ain't true partner!"

"Are you going to talk like that all day?"

"No commentary…"

Phillip let out a sigh of relief when the bell tower rang. He waved goodbye to his "friend" – not before he offered him some more pork rinds – and went off to his first class.

…

Phillip was outside the door waiting for the teacher to introduce him to the class. However, he could hear the sounds of tiny whispers coming from the students.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's him," a young lady's voice reached his ears, "He is so mysterious and kind of disturbing…you heard how he was one of the only survivors who made it out of being one of the rebellions' gunmen. All the other children died or disappeared from the face of the earth. So scary…"

"Yeah, I don't think we should trust him; who knows, maybe he'll snap at one of us! I heard he is ill in the mind if you know what I mean…actually I don't know what that means…" the other girl responded confused.

"You aren't one of my brightest friends, but okay. Anyway, I heard he has a mechanical arm! If that isn't weird I don't know what!"

The children continued on and on rambling rumors that were for the most part true.

"Class, settle down if you will…We have a new student and I would like to formerly introduce him. I hope you will all be kind to him; he has been through a lot and I'm sure most of you already heard. Well, come on in !"

Phillip stepped slowly into everyone's vision. He took little steps in the capacious room and walked towards the instructor. She had that smile that all teachers have – on the first day before they show how strict they are – and said, "This is Phillip Phren children and I hope you will be as so very kind to him; now would you like to say anything about yourself?"

Flippy was about to speak, but he tripped on his shoelaces and hit the cold tile floor under him. His face was surely going to get a bruise from after that. While he was still lying on the floor he heard outbursts of laughter and giggles. He couldn't believe it, but how can he deny it? People were laughing at him and they were making jokes about him.

The students were mocking him…

"Alright that is enough class. You know it is rude to laugh at people's most embarrassing moments! He's hadn't had enough time to adjust to a school environment…Now apologize!"

"Yes Mrs. Giao we're sorry…"

"Good, now Phillip you may sit over there by the window…" she pointed to a gigantic glass window and resumed her spot behind her desk; ready to begin a new lesson.

Phillip still laid flat on the floor. He wishes he could just curl up into a ball and disappear. Right now, he was hoping he could stay down long enough so they wouldn't see his tears.

…

Phillip rested his elbow against his desk and looked out the window. He zoned out and began daydreaming. The teacher was teaching them something that Phillip learned on his own from going to the library constantly.

His eyes were still red and puffy from the crying.

'_God I hope no one sees me…'_

"Pssst!"

'_OK, Phillip don't turn around. Don't you remember last time what happened when you did that? You became friends with a homosexual…'_

"Pssst, hey Phillip right?"

Flippy was determined not to look, but this aching curiosity was killing him, "Yes…"

His seatmate took a strand of Phillips hair and…sniffed it?

"What a-are you doing?"

"Your hair…is it naturally this green?"

"Oh my gosh…not again. No, it's not; it was a side effect from my meds."

"Wow, it's a good shade on you!"

"Who are you and why are you talking to me?"

The boy chuckled and offered his hand, "The name is Tyler…"

Phillip observed that his classmate had on a tiger patterned backpack. His converse was also striped like a tiger's. His hair however was a cyan blue.

"You look a little too old to be in this class…"

"Oh I am just assisting Mrs. Giao with her students because her normal assistant isn't here. I am actually nine years old…"

"That's nice…you seem to like tigers," he said trying to have small talk, but failing miserably.

"Yeah, I love them. They are amazing creatures…"

"So, do you want to be a zoologist?"

"Actually, I want to be a soldier and I hope to be General one day! How about you?"

"Well, I wanted to be a doctor, but I'm a little concerned about that now…"

"Oh why—"

"Phillip!" Mrs. Giao looked at her pupil sternly. She beckoned him to come to the white board.

"Phillip, since you'd rather talk to my student assistant, why don't you teach the lesson."

Flippy quietly took the marker. He looked at the board and saw an algebra problem. Wasn't this only for high scholars? Oh, wait, this was an elite school. Phillip always forgot about that.

He started murmuring to himself and started writing on the board, "X+5 -13 would be X+5-5 -13 – 5 and then X -18. Now next problem…"

"Phillip you need only do the first problem…"

He didn't listen and actually ended up doing the next nine problems.

"The answer would be 4pi squared."

"Phillip thank you, but I can take it from here…" she said a little embarrassed that one of her students was smarter than her. He didn't even need a calculator.

He still did not listen. He was getting carried away and was actually enjoying himself. Each stroke of the marker made him feel good inside; until…

"_Thwoop" _something hit him in the back of his head. He reached for it with his hand; he pulled a spitball out of his hair.

The sound of laughter filled the room again. Flippy told himself to ignore them, but his conscious was telling him otherwise.

Continuously the boys in the front and back of the room threw spitballs. It made him flinch every time. It was irritating…

He heard them making jokes about him and laughing at him. They were looking at him like he was a freak; maybe he was.

"Look guys he's a freak and a nerd! Ha!"

That broke him.

He turned his body around and his hair whipped behind his ears.

"YEAH WHY DON'T YOU TRY LIVING IN MY SHOES YOU BLOODY ASSHOLE!?"

"PHILLIP! That is no way you talk in my classroom!"

At that moment the bell rang for recess.

The children cowered and stayed as far away as Phillip as they could. They couldn't even move, they froze in their seats.

When Flippy calmed himself he realized what he had just done and tried to apologize, but Mrs. Giao just shook her head and pointed for the class to leave. Phillip looked towards the back of the room and saw Tyler – not even looking him in the eye.

…

"Yeah, you are all over the news man! You didn't know Phillip?" Steph and Phillip were sitting on a bench eating the leftover pork rinds.

Phillip's elbows were resting against his knees and he sighed. They were both sitting on a bench in the quad; in front of the cathedral. They blocked out the sounds of screaming children and barking dogs and were only focused on their conversation.

"Thanks; I was wondering why so many people knew who I was…" the boy – Phillip came to the conclusion that he was never going to know his true gender – handed him the newspaper with the headlines: "Boy Undergoes Trauma!"

Smack-dab in the middle of the paper was a picture of Flippy sitting on the front porch. He skimmed through the paper seeing words such as: "sole survivor" or "gunmen" or "have beaten up" or even "shocked back to life". That was how everyone in England saw him as of now. Phillip didn't like it one bit; and all this attention was driving him crazy.

Blond hair came into his vision, "How was the first twenty-five minutes of school? Was it rough?"

"Well for one, I probably still have spitballs in my hair…"

"Oh let me get rid of them!"

"Thanks…"

"Now continue…" he picked through the hair while listening to Flippy.

"When I first walked in I made a fool of myself and they began laughing at me; so, not good. Also when I thought I had met someone that would understand me, he looked the other way when I began yelling at the students for calling me a nerd."

"Wait, who was that student? Did you catch his name?"

"Oh, his name? I think it was Tyler…why?"

"Tyler…as in Tyler with the blue hair?"

"Yeah that Tyler; what about him?"

"I see now…"

"What about—"

"Tyler is the son of a two star general. He probably didn't want to abandon you like that, but if his father knew he hung out with a person like you he wouldn't like it one bit and he would take it out on his son. I guess that is what happens when you live in a military family. Hey do you have any—"

"What kind of a person am I exactly?" he interrupted.

"Umm…let's not get into that subject please," Steph started chuckling nervously.

"No seriously, what kind of a person am I?!"

"Let's not lose our temper now Phillip…" he finished pulling out all the wads of paper in the green head's hair, but noticed a growling sound coming from the said person.

"Phillip are you hungry? I can hear your stomach growl all the way from here…wait a minute…"

Flippy's hands were clenched into tiny fists and his mouth was bleeding from how hard he was biting it. His teeth looked unusually sharper than they were the last time Steph checked and he realized that Phillip's stomach wasn't growling.

"Ha, I never knew people could do that. Can you teach me?"

"Why, so you can use it during you improv? Huh? ANSWER ME!"

In a split second his hands went from his sides to Steph's throat. The blond elicited a few gasps for air but couldn't obtain any. He tried prying off the tightly gripped hands but only to continue choking. Saliva was flowing out of his mouth and the accumulated spit started suffocating him as well.

As Phillip stifled the boy, he lifted him up with ease and pushed him against a nearby tree, "What would a person call me huh? What do people see me as? Do they see a freak or a weirdo? Both mean different things you know; and a lot of people miss the whole concept of both!"

He whacked the back of the cross-dresser's head against the tree a few times; during which, the homosexual threw up spurts of blood.

This made Phillip grin a malicious smile, "Oh, this should make things interesting, but I want you to stay alive so we could have more fun! What do you say?"

Steph looked at him through tears – no one could see them right now since they were in an abandoned area nearly no one goes to – and he was turning blue.

"ANSWER ME YOU GAY FAGGOT!" his grip on the male's throat slackened as to breathe so his prey wouldn't die on him.

The breathless boy swallowed in some much needed air and looked at Flippy with a bloody grin, "Y-your e-e-eyes…"

"Speak louder I can't hear you!" he said between teeth and he shook Steph like a ragdoll.

"Y-your e-eyes are…like a d-demon's…Where a-are your angel e-eyes?"

"W-what?" before Steph could answer the bell rang; signaling the end of recess.

Phillip's eyes reverted back to normal and he dropped his victim as he collapsed on the grass.

Phren stayed still – unaware of his collapsed friend – and his emotionless face made him look as if he was dead. When he snapped back to reality he spotted the genderless person gripping his feet and trying to say something.

"Oh my gods, Steph are you okay?" he lifted him off the ground and noticed an uppercut on his lip. Phillip was at first fascinated by the blood and he was about to change back into his rabid form, but he stopped himself and held his now twitching eye.

"D-did I do that?" Flippy started thinking back and remembered glowing yellow eyes.

"He did this…" no one responded, but instead Phillip started apologizing to Steph about a thousand times.

"I-its okay, j-just take me t-to the s-school n-nurse please…"

…

He looked through the door and managed to see Steph sitting on the bed and the nurses taking good care of him.

He couldn't take out the image of the children looking at him when he carried his friend to the medical office. They were accusing him of being the bully and hurting Steph – but Phillip knew they weren't wrong.

His thoughts wandered off to his happy place. His parents told him to make up a world in his mind that was peaceful and calm whenever he was having a bad dream. He closed his eyes and gently began to dream…

_It was awfully pink in this wonderland, but it was better than dark colors. Flippy wandered through the woods and followed the purple path. Flowers trailed behind each step he took and it was as if he had just given new life. He smiled at that idea. The sound of singing caught his attention and he followed the source of the noise. Phillip stumbled upon a table with penguins circling around it. They motioned for him to sit with them and have some tea. He complied._

_They sipped their tea and joked about daily things – at least Flippy did while the birds listened._

"_So I was like: why are you stepping in my personal space fool?" they tittered and gave a toast to each other._

"_More tea Mrs. Periwinkle? How about you Mr. Fluffykins?" he poured the tea and asked them if they wanted one sugar cube or two._

_Phillip turned around when he heard a horse whinnying, "Mr. Charlie the Unicorn, is that you? I haven't seen you in ages old chap!" _

_He rubbed the mythical creature's snout and gave him an Eskimo kiss. They continued their talk and to Flippy, it was a grand jubilee. More and more creatures surrounded him, but he didn't mind. _

"_I'll go fetch some more ingredients for the tea okay you guys." _

_He frolicked through the meadows and grabbed some herbs – and before he went back he took the time to smell the variety of flowers. _

"_I'm here you guys! I didn't know what kind of tea you wanted – jasmine or lemon – so I got both just in case some—" he stopped dead in his tracks. When he opened his eyes he didn't see cute, tiny, fuzzy animals. _

"_B-b-b-b-b-b…" he couldn't finish his statement. However, he wishes he could un-see what he just saw. _

_The table was replaced with the remains of Phillip's unicorn friend. The tongue was sticking out and the legs were twisted in obscure ways. The tail had been ripped apart and was now lying on the floor. The abdomen of the creature cut open and you could see the heart still pulsating through his broken ribs._

_The purple penguins had their beaks forced down their tiny throats; and their flippers had been twisted; and the eyes were no longer in their sockets. _

_Same thing with every other animal. The bunnies were hung; and the beavers were chopped; and worst of all, the entrails of all the animals were on a silver platter with a fork protruding in the middle. _

_Even if it was a dream, Flippy wanted to throw up. He started pinching himself in hopes of waking up, but he got nothing. His eyes watered and he backed away from the gruesome scene._

"_No, no, not here too. I can't b-believe it! This was the place I always thought of when in distress. It can't be happening to them too! Why?! I-I was a good boy, but why did they have to take away my innocence? This is too much I—" _

"—_did this…" Phillip backed into someone and that someone covered his mouth. _

"_Isn't it beautiful? What we did…well I did but we're the same person so technically you did it too…"_

_Flippy recognized the voice as his own and he struggled to get out of his counterpart's grip. That thing was the reason he couldn't lead a normal life. After the riot, he developed PTSD and multiple-personality disorder. But, his other self seemed so life like it was scary._

"_Oh my, you're shaken up! Why are you so scared? It is just a little blood…have a sense of humor Phillip! Blood is what makes the world go round. It is the sign of life and death. We both don't believe that black and white is what balances the Earth, it's blood. Now, take a look at our artwork. Death is the ultimate salvation Flippy and there are a few people who are willing to be the saviors of our planet. We could be one of those saviors! We could bring people eternal happiness just by killing them and that is what is truly remarkable about how strong you are. Why not use your power for good…I am only here to help you along the way…" a blade rose from his pocket and Flippy's doppelganger sliced a cut on his face leaving a trail of red behind._

"_What do you say?"_

"NO!" Phillip woke up to find himself ducking under his chair. He opened his eyes tosee a crowd of people looking at him with curious faces. Students began mocking his cowardly state and teachers tried their best not to laugh at him.

Phillip rubbed his clothes and got up. He walked out of the building and slammed the door on the way.

At a fast pace, he walked over to Mrs. Giao's room with a flushed face.

**Howdy! How are you guys doing today? It took me awhile to post this chapter because a lot of crap has happened – not including the anime project for this which is going pretty smoothly. Our carpet got cleaned so I couldn't use the laptop upstairs for about three hours. I have a test tomorrow for my AP math and also an audition to see where I will be placed in orchestra.**

***sigh* If only I had enough time in the world to do this. Anyway, I've also been busy doing other junk like reading Higurashi, watching Saint Seiya Lost Canvas, watching Madoka Magica, and re-watching Angel Beats! **

**I also might not update too fast anymore because of the anime I'm making for this – you would not believe how many requests from my friends I got to do it. I have more than enough people doing voices and other stuff so it is going really well! Until next time!**

**~ catch ya' later**


	12. Who are you to judge me?

**WARNING: Blood, lots of gore, religious sort of talk, and cursing…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends © Mondo Media**

_Death...death is the price we all have to pay. Phillip walked down the corridor with this reoccurring thought; he repeated it over and over like a hymn he was supposed to remember for Bible school. _

_The hallway was empty and lonely; pale and bland; spacious, but cramped. It didn't help that the only thing Flippy could hear was the echoes of his own footsteps. It was funny really. He chuckled in an almost nostalgic way._

_The floor was a bunch of assorted tiles that were one color: white. However, he realized the farther he went, the more colors that would appear: red, cyan, beige, green, magenta, and even yellow. He thought to himself, 'it's better than nothing'. He resumed his slower than molasses pace and continued to have that original thought in his head about death._

_He turned 90 degrees to his right and discovered another hallway. It led to a solid gold door and Phillip was so tempted to enter that he did. Although, as soon as he walked into the walkway, a sealed door locked him in from behind. He didn't show really any emotion and continued to walk._

_Moving mosaics were surrounding him and they were something. Even though they were glass they moved in such a way that could almost take your breath away. There were artworks of angels and demons; meadows and adolescent girls picking the flowers; mythological creatures and brave heroes; lovers and betrayers were there as well. They all had there own stories and were telling them to the young boy simultaneously. It kind of hurt his head, but his main focus was to reach the golden door. When he was about two feet away from it, he stared in awe at the beautiful portraits of unknown people on top of the doorway. It was so detailed it was as if you could touch them and they would come to life._

_His hand reached for the handle, but something – or someone – rudely stopped him._

"_STOP…if you know what's good for you…"_

_Phillip turned to a man under a black cloak; hiding his face. "Why should I stop?" _

"_You don't want to know what is beyond that door."_

"_Well now that you mention it, I do want to see beyond the door…"_

"_Trust me Phillip…its better that you don't."_

"_How do you know my name?" Flippy took a step back._

_The man chuckled, "To tell you the truth we are already well acquainted…"_

"_Then why won't you reveal your face?"_

"_That would be cheating Phillip…"_

"_How would it be cheating?" his hand reached for the doorknob behind his back._

"_It is just the way this world works…I don't make the rules."_

_In the middle of the mysterious man's statement, Phillip pushed the door open letting out a huge gust of wind._

"_No! What the hell have you done!" the man reached his hand for Flippy, but it was too late._

_Phillip was being sucked into the vortex type door. As soon as he entered all the air was sucked right out of him. The multiple colors put him through a trance-like state. He continued falling backwards until he felt something in the grip of his hands. Blinking twice, he looked at the object in his hand; it was a flower. The type of flower was a mystery to the green-haired boy, but it was certainly a flower. The color was jet black and the stem was a brilliant green._

"_W-what is this?" he brushed his fingertips against the thorns._

'_**Slash…'**_

_Blood poured out of the cut and Flippy felt anger rising in the pit of his stomach until he heard, "PHILLIP WAKE UP!"_

* * *

Hannah gently tapped her knuckles against Phillip's bedroom's door, "Sweetie wake up…"

Flippy blinked – astonished that it was only a dream – and looked at his surroundings. His hair had knots in it and he was still in school uniform – except his tie was loose and it was pretty wrinkly. It was a restless nap for him.

He looked at the time and noticed it was only 7pm.

His eyes led to the poster on his roof and it read: "Don't let dreams just be dreams."

"Yeah right…" Phillip threw his pillow against the ceiling, but it bounced back and hit his nose.

"OH…f-f-fu-fu-fu…."

"Phillip dinner is ready dear!"

"Coming mother…"

"Oh and Mike wants to video chat too!"

Phillip arched his neck back and smiled at the thought of seeing his friend again, "Okay I'll be there…"

* * *

"Are you okay? Are you sure you are fine with those people making fun of you? You should really tell someone…" Mike was eating cup noodles while on the other end of the screen Phillip was eating roast pork.

They were both catching up on stuff they missed after leaving each other.

"Nah, I don't want to sound like a snitch…its fine either way anyway so yeah…"

"You sure about that?"

"Of course; I'm already over it."

"Well okay…"

"So what's new for you?"

"Oh nothing much…"

Flippy gave Mike an inquisitive look on his face, "Really…"

"Okay…I saw that Fable girl at my school; I asked what she was doing there, but she ran away before I could get a response."

"Oh…" was all he said.

"Yeah and I knew you were really looking forward to meeting her again, but I guess she's just really scared. She came off as the shy type, so I'll wait for her to open up more; you still have the miniature version of her right?"

Phillip let out a light-hearted chuckle, "Of course…"

Mike smiled and then slurped a big amount of noodles with his chopsticks.

"You've seen Launa a couple of times haven't you?" Phillip inquired, "How is she doing with the medication?"

"Not too good…doctors say her schizophrenia might be real serious and that maybe she will never be back to normal."  
"Well all we can do right now is pray for a miracle…"

Mime nodded his head in agreement, "Have you made any new friends at your school?"

Flippy paused for a moment and thought about this, _new friend?_

"Phillip…"

"Oh yes there was one…" he took out a picture from his backpack of his friend Steph – Steph took the picture afterschool and in front of the cathedral; actually several pictures.

Mike leaned in closer to the screen and at first was happy that Phillip had made a new friend, but his smile soon took a 180 and turned into a frown.

"W-what's wrong?"

"It isn't really what's wrong, but…"

"But what…"

"This girl doesn't look too good."

"What do you possibly mean?"

"I mean she looks…bad or evil or I don't know…"

"Explain…"

"I just have a bad feeling about her."

"I still don't—"

"—never mind, maybe I'm just going crazy; but all these pictures you are showing me of her look somehow…"

"Somehow…"

"Somehow familiar…I don't know…"

"I think you are going crazy…"

"Yeah I believe you there…what's her name?"

"Steph…I don't know his last name."

"She's a guy?"

"Honestly I don't know what she/he is."

"Where did you meet her…at school?"  
"No, I saw her in the police department."

"What were you doing there?"

"Let's just say I got in big trouble by accidentally calling an officer fat…"

"Dang it! I should have been there to see his reaction!"

"Ha, yeah his face turned beet red!"

They laughed together after a long time of not hearing each other's voices.

"He knows a lot about me and it's kind of creepy to tell the truth, but she's nice."

"Maybe she likes you; who knows she might be your secret admirer! Wow, who would have known Phillip William Phren would turn out to be a Casanova?"

Flippy blushed, "I-I'm not…"

"It's a joke Phillip; you need to loosen up a bit."

"Sorry…"

"Don't be…"

"Well I've got to go."

"Okay, see you later."  
"Bye."

"Same…"

Phillip closed his laptop and walked to the dining hall.

* * *

Hannah let out loud groans and her husband William gave her a glass of water.

"Dear are you all right?"

"I'm fine…j-just…exhausted i-is all."

Phillip looked at his pregnant mother. She was scheduled to give birth in a couple of months, but she is already having contractions at an early stage.

"M-mom…"

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and looked at her first born, "Oh Phillip how are you?"

"M-may I feel your stomach again?"

She held out her hand and Flippy graciously took her hand and put his ear against her stomach.

"I can't wait to be a big brother. I could take him to all my favorite places and show him how to ride a horse. I could feed him and change his diapers as a little baby; and I could take him for strolls along the park. We could do everything together. It would be probably the best days of my life."

"Yeah…can't wait for the quarrels you two are bound to get into."

William rubbed his child's head and chuckled, "We just need to find a name for him."

"Umm, how about Leonardo Zepphon Phren…"

"Where did you come up with that name son?"  
"I heard it in a dream and it was kind of catchy…"

"I like it…what about you Hannah?"  
She nodded her head and the whole family joined together in a group hug.

"I have an awesome family…" Phillip laughed and squeezed his other family members.

* * *

Two weeks of school went by and were they a wreck. The same thing happened to Flippy over and over everyday. Why did they make fun of him so much? What was so funny to make fun of? Spitballs, rude remarks, and bruises from bullies trailed with him everywhere he went and he never told his parents. He hates lying especially when it is right to his parent's face.

Besides that the weeks flew by like an airplane. Here he was walking to school along with Steph.

"Hola compadre!"

"Howdy partner, what's the hoedown?"

"Wow you are getting better at this Flip-maestro!"

"I've learned a lot the past two weeks; not just how to dodge spitballs."

"You're pretty good at both actually…"

"Thanks…I had a lot of practice."

"Hey want to go to the cathedral?"

"I don't know about it…I—"

"Shh, I know a shortcut," Steph grabbed his friend's hand and dragged him along the sidewalk.

"W-wait up!"

* * *

As soon as they arrived Flippy put his hands against his knees and panted like no tomorrow.

"Never…ever…do…that again."

"Sorry man!" Steph wore the girl uniform again, but his hair was pulled back with a headband – wasn't really a bad look.

Steph stepped forward and took Flippy's hand with both of his own.

"C-can I confess something?"

"Uhh, you don't have a crush on me do you?"

"What? NO! However…" seductively he brought his lips uncomfortably close to Phillip's, "As far as you know…I'm single…"

"R-right…"

"Look," he looked glum, "In all seriousness…my parents are getting a divorce."

Phillip looked at his friend with concern and took him by the shoulders, "Are you serious? How long has this been going? Why haven't you told me until now? This is terrible!"

"I'm fine; it's been going on for a month at most, but I was uncomfortable talking about it."

"I understand, but I can't imagine how much pain you are going through!"

"It sucks; I just wish they would get along! They actually started having fights after I told them I was gay. Sometimes I feel like it's my fault that my dad started drinking; my mother started cheating on him; the reason I get bullied at home all the time! I get bruises from my dad who likes to throw furniture all over the place and it irritates me like hell to know that they will never be back to normal. IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF ME!"

He stomped around and cursed at himself; grabbing his hair. With a loud grunt he kicked a large rock – or at least he thought it was a rock – and yelled in pain. He grabbed his shoe and yelped at the pain.

"Ouch—that was not a rock!"

Phillip looked at the object Steph stubbed his toe on.

"You are right Steph…it's not a rock."

"I think I just said that…"

"I think…it's…it's a statue…a golden statue!"

"Right…right…and I am a golden maniac!"

"No…seriously look at this…"

Phillip handed the blond the statue. He was right; it was a golden statue. It looked almost Mayan or Egyptian of some kind.

"Woo…Phillip what the hell is it?"

"I don't know, but it is so pretty! I think I should bring it to class!"

"Hey no fair I stubbed my toe on it!"

"Well I'm…awesome so ha!"

"Sure OK fine with me! It's fine okay…"

"Thanks I think I need to examine this later on today…"

"…"

"S-steph…"

The boy with sun bleached hair was looking up at the church and grabbed Flippy's arm again and dragged him inside the church.

"What are you doing? We aren't allowed to go in!"

"Adventure Phillip…adventure…"

* * *

They walked across the cold floor. The church had a weird chilling breeze inside and it was all dark. Cobwebs were in every corner and the only light was at the top of the altar.

Steph was walking ahead of Phillip and was gazing ahead.

"Phillip…have you heard of the '_Eternal Garden' _myths?"

"Why yes they are some of my favorite stories!"

"Mine too which one is your number one favorite."

"Hmm, my number one eh?"

* * *

_In the Eternal Gardens a black flower grew in the cold days of winter where no flower could bloom. The flower was jet black – a color of sadness – but his smile was the epitome of beauty. The flower wandered around, but no other flower was in sight for they were all in hibernation like regular flowers. _

_It saddened the black flower, but the snow was worth it all. The way it danced in the wind made him feel good inside. So he was patient in waiting for the others._

_As soon as the others bloomed they welcomed him with jubilee. He had a splendid time with all the others. They thought he was a little odd at first because he was born in winter, but that was all put aside. Even though he was welcomed with great warmth, he still felt lonely when he went back home. Nobody truly loved him until…_

…_she came along. The red beauty; was she beautiful. She was the purest of all other flowers and her smile was the only one that could compete with his own. They spent every waking moment with each other after words. They shared everything with each other and everyone in the garden knew about their love; nobody could separate them. Well this lasted for a long time, but all good things come to an end._

_One day she didn't return. The black flower waited hoping maybe she was just sick._

_The next day: no girl._

_The next day: no girl._

_She didn't return for a whole month. Slowly, the flower's pure soul turned as black as his petals. _

_He didn't move from his spot though in hopes that she would return while slowly becoming known as the corrupted flower._

* * *

"Although with every copy of that book the rest of the chapters of that story are burned I have no idea why though…"

"And I have no idea why you two are here…" the principle stuck her head in through the door.

"Um, I'm so sorry ma'am I swear we didn't mean to—"

"Shush! Detention, both of you!"

* * *

Ms. Giao wrote her name upon the board and wrote the amount of time they had to spend in detention.

Phillip was sitting in the front which probably wasn't a good idea since he could hear all the other delinquents making fun of him. Wow, he only spent two seconds in there for Pete's sake.

"Now, sit quietly and raise your hand only to talk. I'll be reading right here…"

Phillip worked on some homework he had to finish, but just like he expected, a paper wad hit the back of his head and the teacher didn't notice for the billionth time.

He broke his pencil in half due to frustration, but he calmed himself. A boy raised his hand and told the supervisor that he was going to hand in some papers.

The child walked over, but before setting the papers down on her table he whispered these exact words in Phillip's ear, "Such a freak…"

Flippy couldn't take it anymore and he grabbed the boy's coat and pulled him towards the floor. He might have lost consciousness, but it didn't matter to the young man.

The others gasped in horror and started calling for the teacher's attention at once.

"Children I do not take this kind of behavior! If you need to ask something raise your hand!"

Everyone put their hands up to tell about the act Phillip had just done but, "Phillip you raised your hand politely, what is it you want?"

"May I use the restroom ma'am?"

"Why of course…here are the keys…"

He said his thanks and grabbed the keys, "These keys…they are the ones that lock/unlock any door right?"

Ms. Giao nodded her head.

Flippy literally dragged himself to the door; and _click. _

The door locked itself. The teacher stood up, "Phillip what is the meaning of this?"

He looked at his own shoes, "Well that depends on what you are asking for. I locked the door because you gave me the keys. You are quite stupid you know. If you are asking for anything else, I did it for pure enjoyment."

"YOUNG MAN WE DO NOT CALL ANYONE STUPID"

"Ha, like you have never called anyone stupid in your lifetime. In fact studies show that no human has ever not said stupid before. Unless you are a mutant I do believe you have said stupid before."

Phillip grabbed something out of his backpack – a pen. He walked over to the embarrassed teacher and grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up with ease. All the other kids in detention whispered, or gasped, or stood in shock, or even all of the above.

"It would be a shame if the public found out I murdered a teacher! Oh well…like they would find out."

He took his pen and in one swift motion the tip of the pen was jabbed right through the woman's eye.

She screamed as loud as she could, but no one could help her.

Phillip dropped her on the ground and started stomping on her stomach like a maniac. Blood started spurting out of her mouth and she begged for him to stop, but he just kept laughing psychotically.

It lasted until the moment when she…stopped moving.

Blood soiled his clothes and the children made a run for the door. They pushed and screamed hoping to open the door, but knocked the handle off in the process.

"What a shame! Why would you people do that now eh? I'm just like Santa; I give you presents and I love the color red."

He turned his head and faced the crowd. The red crimson colored his pale face and he smiled like a clown you see at carnivals. It was a deadly thing to see and everything else happened in a split second.

He took one girls hand and guided it under the stapler, "You said you were one of those EMO chicks right? Well why not kill yourself right now!"

He pressed it once and it pierced her skin, "No I was just lying to get this guy's attention, please have mercy!" tears flowed down her cheek.

"Oh dear you should have said so sooner! Now I have to kill you…sayonara!"

As he pressed the cold metal frames into her palm she grinded her teeth and bit her lip to the point of bleeding.

"Well you aren't dying fast enough are you? Well let's speed things up a bit shall we…"

He took the staple and pressed it against the girl's throat. The skin pinched together and Flippy soon ripped the staple out of her neck and grinned.

"Well that was kind of boring…I hope one of you will be more interesting! We'll just have to wait and see."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a shard of glass from one of the picture frames and gripped it tightly with one hand.

"Ha…ha-ha…hahahaha…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA!"

* * *

The night was cold and grim. The wind carried off from the northeast was terrifyingly cold; it petrified the young boy. The stars were only the spotlight for the fire show below. Flippy was kneeling on the ground with his hands turned into fists. His body was covered in burns and cuts; and when his salty tears reached his wounds he would wince at the pain.

Phillip kept crying and crying. His tears turned into sobs. The amber flames lit up the entire building. He saw limbs broken off and innards pulled out of people's bodies.

"Charles why won't you turn me into the police if you know I did it?"

"Sir, you are family and family doesn't do that to each other…"

"I committed murder and yet you act like it isn't a big deal…"

The sparks hurt his eyes and the smoke was throwing him into a fit. He walked over to the side of the building where he saw a maid outfit; Charles soon followed after.

"The old hag I presume?"

"H-her name was Emma…"

"Excuse me?"

"HER NAME WAS EMMA!"

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be…"

"This will surely be on the news sir…"

"Will they arrest me?"

"Unknown sir…

"What in bloody hell is wrong with me?"

"I—"

"I killed so many in one day. It is a guilty feeling I have inside of me. I hate it. I hate this damn cruel world and all those bastards who think they are all that. I had to learn the hard way that the world isn't what it seems. Why me? God hates me that's why…"

"That is not true sir…"

"Then give me a better explanation Charles…give me one now…"

The butler didn't respond.

"I thought so; why did he have to take everything away from me though? I was going to be a big brother, but no!"

"Sir don't lose yourself…"

"INSTEAD I HAD TO BECOME A MANIAC AND KILL MY WHOLE FUCKING FAMILY!"

"Keep yourself calm…"

"My mother, my father, my unborn brother; they were all killed before my hands. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and just started stabbing them to death; I remember their faces so clearly that it haunts me up until this moment."

No response.

"I also killed nearly every servant in the manor. Isn't that splendid! To top it all off I burnt the mansion to the ground! Aren't I the best?"

Phillip continued sobbing, but then immediately stopped, "I just realized crying will get me nowhere Charles. I must be brave and stop crying…"

"Sir it is okay to cry sometimes…"

"No it isn't…"

The boy stood up and walked over the ruins of his old house. He found a bowie knife and put it in his pocket. As he wandered he stumbled on a couple of stuff that he put into his backpack. He saw some black fingerless gloves and decided to wear them. He was careful not to step on dead bodies.

Now was the time to decide where the hell he was going to go in the first place; that was about the time he found a poster that read: _America Land of the Free!_

He walked over to his butler and handed him the poster, "We are going…"

"Sir are you sure?"

"Very…"

"Where in America are you thinking about?"

Flippy thought about this for a while, "Happy Tree Town a secluded place…"

"Very well sir…"

"We just need to find the money…"

"No problem sir, in your parent's wills they stated that you would claim all their money."

"Fine then, I want to leave as soon as possible…"

"Right…"

Phillip walked around some more looking for more stuff to bring and saw his old teddy bear and his father's dog tags. He put both into his bag and set off. Tears stopped flowing out of his eyes and he had pulled a straight face. He looked ahead and found a pond. He slowly walked towards it and looked at his reflection. His face was covered in burns and bruises.

When he noticed that his reflection had a different eye color than he did, he slapped his hand across the water and said only one thing, "Bastard…"

* * *

_Death…death is a price we all have to pay. I should know that by now…I murdered my own family right. Yeah, it's me Phillip talking here. Charles and I are just wandering around until we find anything useful for our trip. It was odd because I kept having to say, "Don't step on my parents' corpse."_

_Don't worry I'm not mad anymore. It is actually pretty funny how God fated for this to happen. He must just really hate me huh? What kind of merciful God are the Jewish and Christians talking about? I want to see him for myself and then just slap him across the cheek or something. I want him to know how much pain he is putting the innocent through. _

_Am I human? Honestly tell me if I'm human or humane at least. I never had such a dense feeling of hurt inside of my heart. Huh, that sounded kind of poetic didn't it? One day I'll grow up to be a poet…Nah. I wanted to become a doctor, but now that I look at all these bodies just lying still, I would hate to keep seeing that over and over again in the hospital. Why are us humans so fragile? It took me only a few months to realize this and now I don't know what to do with myself. I see the world in a whole new light, but what's the point if everywhere you look there is going to be someone pointing at you and yelling, "Freak..." am I right?  
_

_Take it from me that I still have a lot to learn, but with the stuff I did learn I know now that life isn't a toy you could mess around with. Why did I grab the knife you say? Well, let's just say when I get to say goodbye to Paul, Mike, Launa, Buddhist Monkey, and Liam, I want to **disappear**… just like the rest of my family. If you try to stop me I will just make you disappear too because it's bound to happen sooner or later, so why not soon; you need to get it over with; I need to get it over with. _

_I haven't told Charles about my ambition, but he'll just half to find out when he sees me in a corner with a bloody wrist. That will be a while from now…_

_The thought of disappearing sounds so good that I want to do it right now, but it would be pointless. The only reason why I want to disappear is because the others are dead. My mother kept telling me to keep moving forward because they will always have my back. So where am I to head to now? I can't go back because no one is there to catch me, but if I move forward no one will be able to stop me. I'm stuck in a neutral area unless I vanish like the rest of them because…_

…_death…death is the price we all have to pay. Death is inevitable…and can not be rewritten. Death is the end of life, but the start of another. Death can be peaceful or gruesome, but if I know one thing…it is this:_

_**Death is ultimate salvation…**_


	13. Conspiracy

**Sorry for the slow updates, but I'm working on a lot of projects; not that I'm procrastinating, but whenever I see an opportunity I take it. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

**By the way, I used an Alice in Wonderland quote; so there will be asterisk signs around it. :) Warning: Sexual content/Rape talk and cursing.**

The array of colors flashed before the seven year-old's eyes. His house smelled like the burning wood over an open fire. That reminded him of the time he went camping when he was four. His father would make lame puns about how he heroically caught dinner, while his mother would giggle over her husband's stupidity; and therefore making the stew taste somewhat bitter. The memory seems like a distant memory to the boy now – and oh how he wishes to bring back the times of pure innocence – that was then though, and this is now.

He carefully stepped over shattered glass and made his way into the area which would be the study hall or library if you prefer that term. It had turned into rubble, rubble that marks an end to the Phren dynasty. This was the end of the family line, and Phillip knew that. Unless some miracle occurred there was no way he could bring them back. Time machines haven't been invented and no genie was going to grant him a wish. No, he has been left an outcast and the worst part of it all is that he remembers all of their dying faces.

He remembered how his classmates had looked terrified at him when he pulled out one of the others eyes. The state that he was in at that time was petrifying to the bone – even he felt it. The images of his parents were forever burned into his mind. The look of disappointment in their eyes killed him on the inside. At least to him it looked like they were disappointed and he had never seen them look at him with such disgust. He should just disappear is what he thought in his head. If it hadn't been for that _thing _doing all these crude acts to people then he would have had a normal life, but no.

Phillip kept denying the fact that it was actually himself killing all those innocent people, but the voice inside of his head kept yelling at him, _"Yes…"_

He wandered around his crippled home and began thinking if he even belonged in this world. Was he there to serve any real purpose or was he an accident that belonged in some kind of holding center. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a ghastly scen appear in his peripheral vision – a dead body with the spine partly coming off of the back.

Flippy averted his eyes and felt like throwing up at that moment; the anger inside of him was building up once again. He mentally slapped himself and tried to maintain control but a voice ringed in his ears.

He looked up to see someone in the shadows. It was a man, no a woman, can't be a girl, but it has to be a boy. Phillip has never had confusion with someone's gender except with, "Steph…Steph is that you?"

The blond stepped forward and presented himself/herself with a bow, "In the flesh my good man." He/she walked over to the youngster and gave him a light-hearted smile. He put his/her hands upon Phillip's shoulders and nodded his/her head.

"W-what are you doing here? I thought I—" Phillip thought about his words for a second.

"Killed me? How silly, I _escaped _before you could have caught me," he put a lot of emphases on escaped signaling something that Flippy wasn't aware about.

"Oh as long as you are okay—"

"I'm more than okay…I'm stupendous! A feeling you should have too."

"I can't really feel that way…if you can't tell from my mess, I'm not in the cheery mood."

"I see…so you want to die…"

"How did you—"

"I've seen a lot of things Phillip…things much more worse than this."

"You may think that, but—"

"No, I know that. I don't mean to sound rude, but I have much more knowledge and experience than you have. I highly admire you for your boldness, but I never had the idea of you committing suicide cross my mind."

"Why are you saying this?"

"I'm saying this for your own good and that will help benefit others…"

"So are you using me?"

"No of course not; using a person is way below me."

"W-what do you mean by _'benefit others' _Steph?"  
"I don't mean others in a literal sense, but for the world's sake—"

"The world doesn't care about me. If it did then why did it have to take away my home?"

His friend sighed, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything…"

*"Is it better to be loved or feared?"*

"I don't know…love?"

"Are you sure?"

Phillip nodded his head and looked up at Steph's eyes to see that they were almost hollow, "Are you okay? Do you need to rest?"

"I've experienced love before…and it was a wonderful thing."

Steph wandered around the ruins of the home and started muttering things to himself/herself. Flippy was getting a little worried about his friend's behavior and when he was about to place a hand upon his/her shoulder Steph just stopped in place. He/she faced away from the green-haired boy and he said, "My love was greater than any other love in this world…did you know that?"

He/she didn't wait for an answer, "My lover was so beautiful and they had a great smile; one that could make anyone's heart melt, but that isn't the best feature…it's the eyes. The eyes glow like the midnight sun on a galloping horse. You know…you remind me of my lover Flippy, except their eyes were more beautiful – no offense. The two of us were going places; we had plans to make it big – not necessarily show business, but that would work too – and we wanted everyone to know about our love. Actually, their dream was to be an aspiring actor, while I wanted to be a singer. Those were the good ol' days when we laughed on the park benches and fed chicken strips to the ducks; don't think of us as sick, but it was pretty funny to watch them eat meat without them being aware of it."

Steph laughed at the memory, but stilled once again, "Then the bad stuff started happening. I found out that they were in love with someone else along with me. I thought I was special, but no; she had found someone new. Was I boring or bland to her now? Did she want some more excitement in her life? I guess I'll never know, but I tried it. I tried bringing them to the more dangerous side of town. They were a bit frantic at first, but then they took the risk. When we got home though, somehow I began talking about her other lover; boy was that the worst decision of my life."

The homosexual grabbed a thick wooden block and stabbed a broken down car engine with it, "We yelled and cussed at each other. We acted like animals: pulling each others hair, clawing at each other, scratching. It was terrible and I hated them at that moment. So I left their apartment; slamming the door along the way. On the outside I was furious, but on the inside I felt so terrible and alone. My love was broken; I wasn't so sure it could ever be fixed. We didn't talk to each other for 5 months, 4 weeks, 21 days, 3 hours, and 27 minutes. I kept track if you obviously can tell. It was the worst period of my life. I had these mood swings and attacked pedestrians on the street every time I did my groceries. I hated my lover, I hated myself, and I hated love. However, I couldn't get them off of my mind; so I went over to their house. I wanted to see their smile one more time, but when I opened the door they didn't smile. When they saw me, they actually looked at me with disgust. I wanted to slap them right then and there, but they beat me to it. A red mark appeared on the side of my cheek. I felt angry, but then I was happy to see them, so I fell in love again. That love feeling was something I couldn't control; I couldn't understand why I still felt that way towards them."

Tears fell upon the boy's/girl's cheek. He/she rubbed his/her eyes, but the tears kept flowing in a cascade, "I told them, _'I hate you' _and they were speechless about my boldness. Ha, I couldn't stand how they looked at me. I wanted her to love me and only me. What did her other lover have that I didn't have? Was he more handsome? Was he skinnier? Was he taller? Was he funnier? I just didn't know. Currently their other lover wasn't there, so I took the opportunity to do the unthinkable…"

Steph turned around to face Phillip. His face was red from all the tears and he whispered something very quietly.

"What did you say? I didn't quite catch that…" Phillip asked curious about his story teller's deed in this tale.

"I raped her…"

Phillip gulped in hearing those words. He knew about rape, but thinking that his friend had molested somebody was out of this world.

"It felt so good too," Steph practically exclaimed, "I loved seeing her tears come out. Those tears were for me and it made me feel proud inside. Yes, my lover was a girl because at the time I was straight – but that's a different story; I'll talk about how I converted later. I wrapped her hands up with some cloth I had found and I did the same with her feet. Before I covered her mouth with some duct tape, I gave her a big, wet, slobbery French kiss. Right now you might think I'm gross, but that was love. I did all sorts of things to her that I can't mention right now to someone as young as you."

Flippy stood there terrified of Steph. He never knew he/she was capable of doing such a thing and the fact that Steph did it out of love made it even more terrifying, "Why did you do it? You can't let out your anger like that!"

Steph chuckled, "Says the guy who murdered 11 people in one day!"

"I didn't do that though…it was this beast that lives inside me."

"Yeah and my beast molested her too…"

"Uh—hmm you k-know how many people I k-k-kill—" he couldn't say it.

"Killed…yes I do…and that question on why I did it to her…the answer is: that whore deserved it. She kept toying with me so I had to do it!"

"But that isn't how—"

"Let me finish my story! After that pleasurable night I left her to cry on her bed. What a bitch she was during our lovemaking. She kept trying to escape when she should have known from the start that this was her fate. I guess I felt a little bit guilty, but nonetheless the feeling of love-hate was a bit dimmer now. I jumped out of her window and fled the city. I didn't want the cops to know what I did to her. So I changed my identity: I changed my name to Steph, I cut my hair and dyed it, and I even moved all the way to Britain! Do you know how hard it was to get accustomed to the culture here? Well it was hard for me! Jeez I guess you'll never understand! I can see hurt in your eyes. Is it that painful to listen to?"  
"O-of course it is! That lady didn't deserve it! She was innocent…"

"Emma, Hannah, William, your brother…did they deserve it?"

Phillip found himself dumbfounded by his statement. They were innocent too, yet he killed them as if they were livestock.

"Yeah…you don't know how to respond do you?"

In a fraction of a second, Steph took his right hand and slapped it right across the younger boy's cheek. His hand started throbbing, but he was satisfied with the act he committed to the little guy. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone of your feat as long as you keep mine a secret…"

Phillip touched his now red cheek and winced at the pain. He groaned and looked solemnly at the floor. His vision was blurry and he could barely keep himself up. When he was about to faint, a flash of white cleared out all the smoke. The sudden vision of him getting slapped by one of the Riot Brothers seemed so real; it was as if he were re-living it. Then when he least expected it…blackout. However, he was still _"awake"._

"Eyes that resemble a demon's…well if it isn't the infamous split personality of Phillip Phren. Marvelous to meet you in such fine weather."

"Why I do love blood and fire, but I've seen finer things."

"I was being sarcastic. Lighten up…"

Phillip's counterpart looked at the male – or female…who really knows – in disgust and hatred, "Well this should be fun…" he snickered and pulled out his knife; he was about to strike the blonde, but Steph dodged it.

"You are going to have to do much better than that to kill me Phren!"

"Son of a bitch…"

Flippy chased down the man who was practically begging to die, "Phillip this is quite boring. Can you get me some popcorn? I always eat popcorn during the trailers…"

"Why you little bastard…come here!"

He aimed his weapon towards Steph's eyes and he thrust it forward. About 5cm away from the nose, Steph clamped his hands around the blade before it ever made contact with skin.

"Oh, I see blood on your sword. I am guessing from your earlier victims? Well guess what! I'm not going to be one of them."

Blood oozed down the side of his arm as a result of putting his hands on the knife, but he seemed ignorant of that fact.

Steph was about to take away the boy's weapon when the latter kicked the elder's leg making him lose balance and fall to the ground.

"I've got you now! You think you can underestimate me punk?"

Before he could finish his statement the male under him blew bits of bark and amber into Phillip's eyes.

He covered his eyes and moaned at the pain. That was when Steph took advantage of him. One hand covered his throat while the other rested upon his back. Just from that Flippy felt a surge of energy travel through both regions. His last words before blacking out were, "Are you human?"

"No, but at the same time yes… now just…_forget…"_

* * *

"Sir are you okay? You look beaten up…" Charles towered over the green-head while fanning him. They were now in what looks like an apartment complex. His breathing was hard and heavy; he sat up abruptly, "Where the hell am I?"

"You are in my house, Houston," someone said while covering their mouth.

Phillip turned to see Steph sitting in a couch right across from him, "How long have I—"

"—been knocked out? A couple of hours, roger that. At least that is according to my stats, Houston."

Flippy groaned and touched his forehead. It hurt like hell. "Man do I have a headache…"

"Are you okay?"

"No…I feel like I lost a big chunk of time or I forgot something…"

Steph smiled kindly at the naive boy, "That is what happens when you blackout Houston."

"Thank you for helping out…"

"No problem we saw you in trouble and we just had to help you!"

"Umm, _'we',_ we who…"

"Me and my Ma of course!"

Phillip turned his head to see a lady with black curly hair, "Hello Phillip, Steph has told me so much about you and you are so much cuter in person!"

"T-thank you…"

Steph leaned into Flippy's ear and said, "Don't worry I didn't tell her that you were the one that killed your family…"

"Y-you k-know about that?"

"I saw with my own two eyes…but I won't rat you out!"

Phillip had a stolid look on his face, but then smiled as best as he could. Their family offered them airplane tickets to Happy Tree Town, but they offered 3 tickets instead of two.

"What is this extra ticket for ma'am?" Charles inquired.

"For my baby boy Steph of course; he will be coming along with you!"

"What about you? Is he going all alone?"

"He has relatives there, he will be fine!"

"Well if you insist, but we won't pay you a dime if anything bad happens!"

"Don't worry, he is a smart boy. Also, Charles lighten up…you are acting as if this is a business deal!"

"Well okay…"

Steph leaped for joy and tightly hugged his green-haired friend in delight, "How splendid this will be! We could still see each other everyday! I am so excited because I have never been there before…have you?"

Phillip laughed at his friend's happiness and shook his head.

Steph gasped, "It will be both of our first experiences! I can't wait! I can't wait! I can't wait! I can't wait…"

"Well I'm as excited as you are buddy…"

"Yay! I'll start packing!"

* * *

Phillip and Charles left their apartment and headed to the nearest hotel. They said their goodbyes and farewells as they left the complex.

Steph sighed and turned back into house.

"Steph…you almost blew it you know…" his mother turned towards him.

"I know Pandora…I just got really pissed."

"Well don't do that anymore! You need to learn to control your feelings," Pandora took off her wig and her bald cap revealing long black hair that touched her ankles.

"I'm sorry…"

"He almost found out your real age my sweet child…" she cupped her hands around his slander face and gave him a peck on the lips.

"He didn't seem to remember though…"

"I know but that was very risky my dear…" she removed her apron and makeup. She looked almost like a Goddess.

"I know…we are still going with the plan right?"

"Of course…just one second," she cupped her mouth and yelled across the room, "HECATE!"

She came through the shadows; a pink-haired girl in pounds of mascara. She wore a black tee that said "BOTDF" on it with scratch marks that revealed underneath a purple tank top. She had a choker around her throat that also had a bell on it. She wore simple black jeans with a studded belt that hung loose. She had upon her skin 3 permanent tattoos: 1 was on her right arm – it was of a turtle being mutilated – the 2nd one was on her back that led all the way down to her ass – it was of a motorcycle so whenever she did "it" men would be "revving her up" as she states it – and the last one was near her collar bone of a skeleton bat. She plans on getting even more…insane right? That was the basic outfit for Hecate and Steph had to live with her 24/7.

"I hate her mom…"

"Yeah just deal with it…Hecate you are moving to Happy Tree Town with your little brother deal?"

"Why the hell should I? He isn't my real brother! In fact you're not even our real mom!"

"Listen to me or I will pluck each of your individual hairs single handily one-by-one. That does not just mean the hairs on your scalp!"

"Fine, let me just tell Tarry to leave my room…"

"Another boy Hecate…"

"What he was hot…for a while…btw I am out of condoms…"

"Then you go buy more with your own money!"

"Ewww that means I have to get a job!"

"Exactly…"

Steph looked frustrated, "You guys this is gross…I'm leaving."

"#35 stay put…"

"Please don't call me that Pandora…"

She took him by the chin and forced him to look at her, "I can call you what I want. I made you and I can easily take everything precious to you in a snap…"

She let go, "Fine…mother…"

Hecate tightened her fists, "Pandora why does Steph get to do all the fun stuff? I just have to sit around and be his babysitter."

"You have an important role here too in this world. Steph is a pawn who will help set a curse upon this town. He will cause a rift in space and time because he is our bad luck charm. That is already a lot to think about for someone his age.

She led the two into the basement; "The pawns are all set you see…" she took out her giant chess game and her kin seemed a little startled.

"The king has moved closer to his queen and that means we get closer to our goal of domination!" She laughed as tears streamed down her eyes and she moved the king 1 space forward, "You see we are the people who control them and use them. We are the rulers of this game, but the game hasn't begun until all of our pawns get to where they need to go and you two are who will help me in this task."

"I know I have asked this before," Steph interrupted, "But why do you do this?"

"It is simply because I love messing with minds! It is hysterical! Watching humans work together and do stupid things it makes me laugh and wonder! Speaking of which we should go see our dolls now! Come my children…" she beckoned them to follow her to the large computer with multiple screens.

One screen showed Phillip sleeping in his inn's bed, another showed his uncle Paul with his new wife, and another one showed Mike gardening with a gay expression. Steph gazed in wonder at all the screens. He has been here before, but it still leaves him awestruck every time. His gaze fell upon another screen that showed twins fighting over a sausage link. Another interesting one was of a girl with pink bob-like hair holding hands with another girl with blue hair and a flower pin. So many interesting faces and – even though this might sound like he is a stalker – he was watching their every move. Pandora really was insane. She just wants to do this out of pleasure? What is wrong with her?

Right about then Pandora went into hysteria and pressed all these weird buttons on the keyboard that Steph had no idea would do.

"Insane old lady…" Hecate muttered.

Pandora walked over to Steph and pressed her lips against his making him jump. Still covering her mouth with his she silently said, "Let the games begin…" and she dropped a little totem similar to the one that he and Phillip found on the ground near the chapel in his hand. "Thank you for showing Phillip this and making him forget all about it. Of course it rightfully belongs to you…I mean you _are _the idol. Just make sure he doesn't find it again. Also, sorry for getting you in trouble…I had to act like a real principle after all."

She caressed her finger against his skin and seductively said in his ear, "I love you my little bad luck charm…"

* * *

"MIKE!"

"PHILLIP!"

The two boys gave each other big hugs and started catching up on things.

"And then he said, 'I ain't your mama…I am your daddy!'…hilarious"

"Cool man. I am just so happy I get to see you again."

"No problem…you don't have that much luggage…did something happen?"

"Oh nothing," Phillip hesitated, "just my house got burned down…"

"Oh no…did you get hurt?"

"Nah…"

"How did it happen?"

Phillip thought about it for a while, "It was a wild-fire…"

"Yeah I heard about your parents too…you have my condolences. I feel so bad about this and I hope you feel better…"

Flippy gave Mike another hug and they walked to the escalators.

On the other side of the escalators was Launa, Phillip's cousin. He is to be staying with them until they can get a house in Happy Tree Town.

"Hey cous!"

"Hi Launa how are you?"

"Is that how you greet in England? 'Cause here in America we just slap each other in the ass!"

"Uhh, I don't know…"

"Just joking! Right Mr. Pickels?"

Phillip sighed and he stared off into the gigantic glass window. The sound of airplanes reminded him of the time he went to Japan for an investment project with his dad. Those were the good times. He sighed again and took his carry-on and dragged it along the tile floor. His body was currently there, but his mind kept wandering. He gets this pang of guilt every time he looks at his blade.

He had to sneak it into the plane – and boy was that hard. It is as if he can hear, taste, smell, hear, and touch everything that happened that night as if he were re-living it. He hated it. When Mike and Launa asked where he got the knife he was on the verge of tears – but now he has learned that crying won't do anything.

They made their way to Customer Service and Launa asked, "What are we doing here Flips?"

"Umm…"

A familiar voice echoed through his ears, "This was a rip-off!"

"That…" Flippy pointed in the direction of Steph towering over the man working at customer service.

Steph had determination in his eyes, "I demand a refund!"

"Who is that Phillip?" Launa inquired.

Phillip opened his mouth, but Mike answered for him, "The infamous Steph…am I right?"

Flippy nodded his head and ran over to the stand a tried to pry Steph off of the desk.

Mike and Launa stood back and watched his attempts.

Mike had an upset look on his face and crossed his arms, "I don't like Steph, Launa, he just doesn't seem trustworthy…"

"Maybe you are just jealous he has another friend besides you…" she snickered.

"NO! I'm serious about this… he looks familiar…"

"Maybe you have seen him in a newspaper or something…he looks like a nice guy so try to open up."

"As if…"

"That is what I did to you and I thought you were a creep…"

"WHAT! HOW DO I LOOK LIKE A CREEP?"

"Well first of all…your yell is like a whisper as if you had lost your voice – creepy…"

"Nah…"

* * *

"Okay guys here are Steph. Steph here is Launa and Mike…"

"Nice to meet you…" they said simultaneously.

"Nice to meet you good fellows; I am sorry you had to see me in such an episode. It was a pandemic! Literally there was chewed gum in my peanut bag. Seriously what kind of service is this? Do they think I am some kind of dog?"

Phillip butted in, "Steph almost all airplanes have bad airline food."

"Well we deserve better and I think we should have a protest!"

Mike and Launa looked at him as if he were some kind of alien, but smiled anyway.

They all walked out of the airport and entered the silver van. They all seemed to be getting along and enjoying themselves. However, they all shared their own secrets and secrets can be ugly. They make simple life tasks seem like a life or death act. They hide those dirty lies with a pretty smile and pretend they don't have anything to keep secret.

Steph's phone rang and on the screen illuminated the name Hecate, "Hey guys I gotta take this…"

Phillip constantly looked at the blade that had killed his parents. Such a weapon made him scared and weak inside, but when he holds it he can't stop looking at the hilt of his knife. The thought of killing himself occurred many times in his head making it throb.

Launa whispered into the pickle's "ear" and started fidgeting and trying to re-adjust her dress.

Mike on the other hand looked inside his bag most of the time; staring at something inside it.

As Pandora would state it, "Secrets are what bind this world together…"

The four chatted amongst themselves and Mike said finally before arriving, "It is a 20 mile drive to Happy Tree Town, but when we get there…"

The two foreign boys looked at Mime in excitement, "What?"

"I'll introduce you guys to everyone in town…"

**Finally am I right! We get to see the rest of the HTF'S isn't this exciting! Also is there a conspiracy going on? I can't tell you! *Random mystery aura* Yeah now we are going to get to the good stuff…**

**Tune in next time!**

**~Catch ya' later **


End file.
